A Summer Fairy Tail
by Nardragon
Summary: AU School is over and summer vacation is here. For Lucy, Natsu and the rest it means sun, fun, and a little bit of relationship drama. Join our favourite couples as they hit the beach and try to beat the heat.
1. Chapter 1

In honor of summer I have a summer fic for Fairy Tail. An AU with sun, beaches, parties, games and our favorite couples. This is be primarily a NaLu fic but there will be some Gajeel/Levy, Erza/Jellal, Gray/Juvia and who's know who what else might pop in.

* * *

"Man, I thought that test was never going to end." Natsu said stretching his hands behind his head. Gray huffed at him.  
"You were asleep almost the entire time,"  
"Yeah, cause it was so boring,"  
"I don't want to see the grades you're going to get."  
"Look who's talking mister D+."  
"Shut it Natsu." Gray gripped Natsu's scarf.  
"Make me stripper."  
"Boys stop it." Erza said with a sigh. Both of them instantly jumped away from each other. Lucy couldn't help but laugh. It was a wonder how Erza could make the two boys listen without a second's hesitation.

"Hey, let's look on the bright side. That was our last exam and summer vacation starts tomorrow." Lucy said cheerfully. Her three friends smiled together.  
"I can't wait to hit the beach." Gray said pumping a fist in the air. The four of them along with a bunch of their friends from all over had pitched in to rent a huge beach house for the summer. The place was called the Fairy Tail beach villa. They were planning to head there tomorrow. Natsu, Gray and Erza had been there every summer for the past four years. This was Lucy's second summer.  
"This is going to be a great summer. I can't wait to see everyone." Erza said. "Gray when are you picking us up tomorrow."  
"If we leave around seven we should beat the traffic and be there before lunch. The less time we are actually in the car the better for Natsu." Gray said.  
"Are you sure we can't walk there?" Natsu asked.  
"No way, unless you want to reach there next week. It's like a four hour drive to Magnolia beach." Lucy said. "I'm sure you'll be fine once you take a motion sickness tablet."  
"Luce, you know those things don't work for me. I'm not sure if I should go."  
"You can't bail just because of the drive."  
"Why not? I'll be happy if he isn't there." Gray said. Erza elbowed him. "What?"  
"Natsu…" Before Lucy could finish her sentence someone draped an hand over her should.

"Hey babe." A voice said in her ear. She turned and found a tall, muscular, red-headed boy standing next to her.  
"Hey Sage." She said simply. Sage, if you are wondering, is the captain of the basketball team, on the wrestling team and also Lucy's ex-boyfriend. He handed her a white rose.  
"Sage…"  
"Don't say anything, it's just gift, from one friend to another."  
"Thank you."  
"So this is your last chance to accept my offer."  
"I already told you, I'm staying with my friends at Fairy Tail."  
"Yeah, in some dingy, beat up old house. I'm inviting you stay at my family's beach house, you could call it a beach mansion even. It's about a ten minute walk from the shack where you're staying. If you want to see your friends they're not that far way."  
"Sorry Sage. Maybe another time." She said. He pulled her away from the others.  
"Look how many times do I have to say I'm sorry."  
"You don't have to apologize any more. I've forgiven you."  
"Then why won't you go out with me."  
"Because I just don't want to get back in a relationship right now."  
"Please, just think about it. For me." He said taking her hand in his.  
"Sage…"  
"Please."  
"Alright, I'll think about it okay."

He grinned and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey Sage we have to go." A boy holding a basketball yelled from the end of the hall.  
"Alright I'm coming Mitch." Sage yelled back. "I'll see you later babe. When you get settled in your house you should come check out my folk's place."  
"Yeah, I'll do that." She said waving to him as he walked off.

"You know I still can't believe you turned him down. I know you broke up and everything but his parents are loaded, and we've seen their beach house, it's freaking huge." Gray said.  
"Nah, a bunch of his rich friends are staying with him. I would feel out of place."  
"Said by someone who who's going to inherit a gold mine worth of cash." Erza said.  
"You guys know I'm not like that. I mean Sage and I wouldn't have even dated in the first place if our fathers won't such good business partners."  
"Still it seems like you're missing out."  
"I'd rather be with you guys." Lucy said. "Now I've got to head home. I still have packing to do. I'll see you guys later." She waved goodbye and started on her walk home. As she turned up her drive way a young woman came running down to meet her.

"Good Afternoon Princess." She said with a bow. "Allow me to take your bag."  
"Its fine Virgo, I can manage. And you don't have to bow to me. It's not like I'm actually royal or anything." Lucy said waving her hand.  
"Is there anything I can do for you?"  
"Nah, I have some bags to pack for tomorrow."  
"I should pack them for you."  
"I'll much rather do it myself."  
"Please allow me…"  
"On second thought Virgo, there is something you can do for me. We'll need some snacks for tomorrow's trip. Can you make some stuff?"  
"Of course, what would you like?"  
"Make some strawberry cake, Erza will love that."  
"Right away Princess."

She sighed as she closed the door to her room. She loved Virgo, but there were times when the maid could get really weird. She sighed again as she looked at her room. She had started packing earlier but it hadn't gone too well. Most of her clothes were out on her bed, while the two bags on the floor were completely empty expect for a couple books. She just couldn't decide what she wanted to bring with her. She was going to need to help. She took out her cell phone and pressed the second sped dial. After three rings a girl answered.

"Hello,"  
"Hey Levy, it me."  
"Lucy, hey. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Gajeel and I are so excited to see everyone. Well, at least I think Gajeel is. You know how he is."  
"Yeah, I can't wait to see you either. Only I have a bit of a problem…"  
"You haven't finished packing yet."  
"Am I that predictable?"  
"Yeah…you kinda are. Alright let's start with swimwear…"

With Levy's help she managed to pick out clothes and actually put them in her suit case. It was good a thing Levy knew Lucy's closet all most as well as she did. Lecy flopped down on her bed when they were finally done.  
"Man, this time tomorrow I'll have sand between my toes." She said.  
"Yeah, I can already taste the s'mores." Levy said. "I'm so excited to see everyone again." Lucy was about the respond when she heard the call waiting. She glanced at the screen.  
"Hey, Levy can I call you back. Sage is on the other line."  
"Why is Sage calling you?"  
"I'll call you back." Lucy said quickly changing the line. "Yes Sage, what do you want?"  
"Just calling to see if you changed your mind."  
"No I'm still staying with my friends."  
"I was actually talking about the other thing. You can't deny we have feeling for each other."

She sighed. "Sage, can we please not talk about this over the phone."  
"One date, that's all I'm asking. Just one, and if it works then great. If it doesn't then I'll stop bugging you about it."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah,"  
"Alright Sage, one date."  
"Great, I'll pick you up in an hour."  
"Wait what?"  
"No time like the present right?"  
"Yeah but…"  
"Oh is an hour not long enough for you? Fine take an hour and a half. See you later." He hung up. She stared at the phone in disbelief for a few seconds then jumped out of her sink when it rang. It was Levy calling back.

"Why is Sage calling you?"  
"Cause he wants to get back together."  
"You said no right."  
"Well…"  
"You didn't." Levy voice was filled with shock.  
"I didn't give a solid yes…"  
"Lucy!"  
"Lev, you aren't here to see how he is,"  
"Do I have to remind you what he did?"  
"No,"  
"They why is god's name are you even considering getting back with him!"  
"Levy, he apologized a hundred times and He does seem genuinely sorry. He said it wasn't his fault…"  
"He kissed another girl! How is that not his fault!?"  
"He said she kissed him."  
"Yeah, cause that's how those things work." Levy sounded really pissed.  
"Look I said I would go one date with the guy. He's coming to pick me up just now."  
"Lucy…"  
"And he promised if it didn't work out he would drop it and we'll remain friends."  
"I still question the logic of being friends with him at all. Answer me one thing…do you still have feelings for him?"  
"I…I don't know."  
Levy sighed, "I just don't want you to get hurt again."  
"I know you're just looking out for me, but I really think he changed."  
"For your sake I hope your right." Levy said goodbye and hung up. Lucy was deciding on whether or not to call Sage back or just go on the date with him tonight. She figured she didn't really have anything to lose so she got dressed.

When Sage pulled up in his convertible Lucy was dressed in a black skirt that flared out at the end, with a pink and white top. Around her neck was her favorite necklace with a key pendant. She had her hair up in her signature side pony. Sage smiled at he got of the car.  
"Man, you look hot." He said kissing her on the cheek.  
"Thanks," She blushed slightly. "You look pretty nice yourself." He was wearing plain blue jeans with black shirt, with a silver barware like design on the right side. He had his collar turned up slightly.

He held open the door for her. "New car?" She said as he jumped into the driver's seat.  
"Yeah, the 2014 Bentley Continental GT Speed. It isn't even on the market officially, but dad pulled some strings."  
"Wow,"  
"I know. It took like a whole week of begging before he caved and got it for me." He said starting the engine. "I'll buckle up if I were you. She has a bit of kick." He accelerated out of the diver way turning sharply on the road.  
"So, where are we going?"  
"Café à l'ouest des riche."  
"I haven't been there in a while."  
"Still has the best food in the city."  
"I guess, but Natsu and gang found this little diner downtown. It has the best burgers. Don't even get me started on their waffles. We go there at least once a week."  
"Wow, a diner…not really my kind of scene." He noticed the look Lucy was giving him. "But, babe if you like it then I guess I could try it."

"So, what's new with you?" Lucy asked.  
"Same ole, I guess."  
"Hey I heard Mitch got a new girl. Jessica, I think."  
"Yeah, Jessica Blake. Her family owns a large portion of an oil rig or something." He quickly changed the subject to school. Lucy found it strange but didn't think much about it. Despite everything she actually managed to enjoy herself a little bit. The dinner was good and Sage was pleasant company. He was his funny charming self. He kept flashing her that blinding smile of his that made most girls go weak in the knees. It used to do the same to her. Yet something felt off but she couldn't place it.

Sage was telling her about the weekend his family had spent in Caribbean when her phone's message alert went off suddenly. She glanced down and a smile appeared on her face. It was from Natsu.

_Hey Lu, I need ur advice. Which swimming trunks should I take?  
The black 1 with the flames or the blue 1 with flames._

Lucy grinned a bit wider and texted back quickly.

_Y don't u take both? Y might need more than 1._

After a few moments he replied.

_Good point. U'r so smart Lucy. _

"What was that about?" Sage asked.  
"Oh, it's just Natsu."  
"What'd he want?"  
"Nothing really. He just asked me about something." She said placing her phone back in her bag.  
"Whatever, so where was I, oh right jet skis…"

All in all the night was really nice. Lucy had to admit she had a good time. Maybe Sage had changed.  
"So had a good time?" Sage asked when he was walking her to the door.  
"I did."  
"Great." He leaned in and kissed her suddenly. She jumped back. "What's wrong?"  
"Sage, I'm still not sure if I want to get back together.  
"But you said you had a good time."  
"I did, but let's just see where this goes okay."  
"How can we see where it goes if we don't do anything?"  
"I'll call tomorrow. We'll make plans to met up at Magnolia."  
"Sure." He kissed her on the cheek. She went inside and closed the door. She leaned against the wall for a moment. She wasn't sure what to make of the night. It had got well, and she and Sage had got along well enough. But she felt like something was off. Her phone interrupted her thoughts. It was Natsu texting again. He was asking about something else. She pressed her first speed dial and he picked up on the first ring.  
"Alright Natsu, what do you need?" She said before he had even said hello. She ended up talking for the next two hours helping Natsu figure out what he should and should not bring.  
"Natsu I really don't think you should pack that."  
"But Lucy I might need it."  
"Natsu they'll have a waffle iron at the house." She said laughing.  
"But what if they don't."  
"Then you'll have to eat pancakes then." She was still laughing. After a while she noticed Natsu wasn't saying anything.  
"Natsu? You there?"  
"Yeah, I was listening to you laugh." He said. She felt herself blush.  
"You can be really weird sometimes. Tell me now what other kitchen items you packed."

It was well after midnight when they had him all packed. Lucy let out a yawn.  
"I'm sorry I kept you up." Natsu said.  
"It's okay. I don't mind. I like talking to you." She said closing her eyes for a moment.  
"Hey Luce, look at the moon." He said softly. If she didn't know better she would have sworn he was right next to her. She opened her eyes and turned to her window. The moon was a bright crescent in the sky.  
"Looks like he's smiling." She said.  
"Yeah, it's almost as bright and beautiful as your smile."  
"Natsu…" She found herself smiling at his words. If any other guy had said it she would have laughed at him for trying so hard at a complement. But she knew Natsu meant it. She yawned again.  
"We really should get some sleep." She said.  
"But I don't want to hang up yet."  
"When do we ever hang up when talking at night?" She asked. It was true that they normally fell asleep talking. He chuckled.  
"Good night Lucy." He said.  
"Night Natsu, sweet dreams."

* * *

Okay, don't kill me for Sage. He does have a reason for being here. And I promise to make up for all the moments will him and Lucy, with a lot more Natsu and Lucy moments in the future chapters. From the next chapter I'll start making up for it.

Next time we hit the beach, head to a carnival and the story takes interesting turn.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys, thanks for the support. I'm really having fun writing this story. I hope you enjoy reading it.

* * *

"Lucy come on!" Gray was honking the horn of his blue Toyota Hilux. "We have to hit the road!" he yelled out. The blonde came half running, half hopping down the drive way trying to get her sandals on her feet. Her duffle bag keep getting in her way. Virgo was behind her with her other bag and a container.  
"Put your shoes on in the car. You're going to be sitting for the next few hours."  
"Oh shut up Gray, a couple seconds aren't going to make much a difference." She shot back. She threw her bag into the back. Virgo placed her other bag in the back and handed the container to Lucy.  
"Enjoy your trip Princess."  
"Thanks, I'll call home when we get there." She jumped in the back.

"Finally." Gray said shifting the gears.  
"Moring Lucy." Erza said.  
"Hey…Lucy…" Natsu mumbled out. He covered his mouth as the car started to move.  
"Natsu, I warned you. No chunks in my car." Gray said eyeing him in the rear view mirror. Natsu didn't say anything; instead he stuck his head out the window. Lucy really felt sorry for the guy. She gently rubbed his back.

"Lucy, what's in the kit?" Erza asked turning around from the passenger seat.  
"Oh, I almost forgot. I had Virgo make us something for the trip. You are going to love it." Lucy passed Erza the container. The red head opened it and almost squealed seeing the cake.  
"Lucy, you totally rock!" She said already taking a piece out.  
"I want some too." Gray said. Lucy took out a piece and held it for him to bite. She held out a piece for Natsu. He shook his head violently. She smiled sadly.  
"Try and get some sleep Natsu, that'll help." She said. He nodded and scrunching up into a ball on the seat. "Here, put you head in my lap." She said pulling him towards her. He didn't resist laying out on the seat. He closed his eyes and rest his head against her lap. He let out a sigh as she gently ran her fingers through his hair. He managed to nod off. The other three passed the time, chatting, laughing, singing very badly to the radio and passing the cake, bags of chip and sodas back and forth.

Lucy noticed Erza was texting frequently. Lucy leaded forward so she could see over Erza's shoulder.  
"Who you talking to?" She asked.  
"No one!" She said quickly, hiding her phone.  
"It's Jellal." Gray said.  
"How did you know?" Erza asked.  
"You've been blushing. He's the only person who could make you blush." He said grinning at her. Erza shot a look that made Gray look back at the road.  
"So, what did he say?" Lucy asked. Erza shook her head. "Please, come on tell me." Erza shook her head again. Lucy tickled her. "Tell me!"

"Alright, just stop already. He might be coming to the beach house." She mumbled.  
"Really? That's great. You two don't get to spend enough time with each other." Lucy said. She meant it too. When Lucy first heard the story of Erza and Jellal she wasn't sure if she really trusted him. A couple years back the guy had gotten into some major trouble and Erza had gotten hurt because if it. Physically and emotionally. But he had really tried to make up for the error of his ways. When Erza had forgiven him Lucy wasn't sure at first if the girl had made the right choice, but she saw how much the two cared for each other and knew they belonged together. Erza's phone buzzed again and Lucy tried to get a peek at the screen. Erza pushed her back.  
"Sit down before you make Gray crash or something." She said.  
"How could I do that?"  
"Shut up Lucy."  
Lucy and Gray couldn't help but laugh.

Sometime later when they were on the highway Lucy fell asleep for a little bit. When she woke up she had slipped down a bit in the seat, and Natsu's head was resting in the crook of her neck. She could hear Erza and Gray talking but was still too sleepy to make out the words. She jumped when she felt Natsu's warm breath brush over her skin. The ironic thing was that every time he breathed out she felt a shiver run down her spine, despite how warm he was. Yet, she wasn't uncomfortable. She found she actually liked the feeling. She was nodding off again when Natsu shifted, pressing closer to her. He turned his face and his lips pressed against the sink under her ear.

Lucy felt an jolt run through her body and jumped up, knocking Natsu from the seat.  
"Ow!Ow!" He said holding his head.  
"You guys okay? What happened?" Erza asked turning around.  
"I jumped awake that's all. I'm sorry Natsu." She helped him sit up. "Are you still feeling sick?"  
"I'm a little better." He said still rubbing his head. She got up resting her knees on the seat so she could see the top his head. She ran her fingers through his hair looking for any sign of bruising.  
"You look okay. Does it still hurt?" She asked holding his face he her hands.  
"Nah, I'm good." He said giving her his lopsided grin. She grinned back.

"Hey look who it is." Gray said. He was looking in the rear view mirror. Lucy, Natsu and Erza all turned around. In the vehicle behind them a girl with blue hair waved at them excitedly. Gajeel was grinning at them from behind the wheel of his black Jeep Wrangler, which in the spirit of summer he had removed all the doors and hardtop from. He pulled alongside them.

"Look what the cat dragged in." He called at them.  
"Lucy! Hey guys!" Levy waved at her standing up holding on to the metal frame.  
"Gajeel, since when can you drive?" Gray called out.  
"Jealous of my ride!"  
"Like if. Can that jigsaw puzzle even reach a hundred?"  
"Why don't we find out?"  
"First one to Fairy Tail?"  
"You're on." Gajeel floored the pedal and shot ahead.

"Crap, everyone buckle up." Gray said shifted gears and slammed the pedal. Natsu and Lucy were thrown against each other.  
"Gray, be careful!" Lucy yelled. She covered her eyes as they wove in between the traffic.  
"This thing isn't build for speed!" Erza yelled. Natsu covered his mouth; he was looking very green now.  
"Well you don't see Jeeps in the winner's circle at the Indi 500 either." Gray said.  
"Gray!" Erza and Lucy yelled together.  
"What!"  
"The exit!"  
"Shit…" Gray jerked the steering veering across two lanes towards the exit with a 'Magnolia' sign over it. Erza was holding on the dash for dear life as Lucy was throw against Natsu. She closed her eyes and gripped the front of his t-shirt. He held onto her with one hand, the other he still had over his mouth. They had managed to get off the highway without dying. But they won't out of danger yet. Now that they were in Magnolia there was more cars, but somehow Gray and Gajeel were still going at frighten speeds. Gray managed to pull ahead. He accelerated through a yellow light.  
"Gray! Look out!" Erza grabbed the wheel when she saw a boy in the middle of the street. They ran up on the curb, everyone bounced in the air.  
"I don't want to die!" Lucy wailed out.  
"We're not going to die." Gray said. "We'll all most there. Look there's the ocean." They all looked ahead and saw the beach. Gray turned sharply to the right, turning on to a road that ran parallel with the coast. He floored it, from here it was almost a straight shot to Fairy Tail. Gajeel was right on their tail. Lucy glanced at them. She could see Levy had somehow ended up in the backseat. Her feet were up in the air. Gajeel pulled next to them.  
"I can see the Fairy Tail turn off." Erza said. The others saw it too, the sign pointing to the sand road that lead towards the house. Lucy could just make out the Fairy symbol painted on it. Gray and Gajeel were each trying to get ahead now. Gajeel shifted gears and jumped ahead slightly. He pulled into the turn off and revved down the sand covered road.  
"No!" Gray slammed his hands on the steering. He pulled to a stop, Erza, Lucy and Natsu all fell out of the truck.  
"Oh, sweet ground." Lucy said laying in the sand. Natsu was on his hands and knees taking deep breaths.

"Owned!" Gajeel said jumping out of the jeep.  
"You just got lucky!" Gray said getting out. "How can you drive so fast anyway? You used to have motion sickness as bad as Natsu."  
Gajeel grinned. "Ginner dude. Once I overload on ginger and I can drive well enough to beat your sorry behind."

Levy fell of the back of the jeep.  
"Gajeel, if you ever drive like that again I will kill you." She said. Gajeel and Gray just seemed to notice the condition of the others.  
"What's wrong with you lot?" Gajeel asked.  
"Yeah, you all look sick."

If they won't so dizzy Erza, Lucy, Levy and Natsu would have attacked the two raven haired boys.  
"Guys! Hey, everyone!" Someone called. They all looked up and saw Mirajane and Lisanna were waving at them from the third story balcony. Lucy forgot the hell she had just been put through as she looked at the building. It was a three story building, light blue and white. The second and third floors had a balcony that wrapped around three sides of the building, the front, left and back. On the right, the roof extended downwards to the first story making a spilt level. This part of the house had glass walls that looked out on the scenery and ocean. This also was the heart of the house with the common room with a pool table, foosball, a pinball machine, a gigantic flat screen and the bar. Although she couldn't see it she knew that at the back of the house was a hardwood patio, complete with seating, a grill and even a fire pit.

Lucy could see a few people in the common room. She recognized Laxus, the grandson of the owner of the house with his best friends, Fried and Bickslow. The front door burst open. Wendy and Romeo ran towards them.  
"Natsu!" Romeo threw himself on the teen, who was still recovering. Wendy ran to Erza and hugged her first then to Levy and finally Lucy.  
"I so happy you guys are here."  
"Yeah, so are we. And not in a car driven by him." Erza said pointing to Gray.  
"Come on inside. A bunch of people are here already." Romeo said pulling Natsu. He was looking better now.

"Man it's good to be home." He said grinning ear to ear. Lucy nodded. He started to unpack their bags from the back of the truck. He handed Lucy her bags. She threw the duffel over her shoulder and took her suitcase. Levy came over and hugged her.  
"I'm glad to see you're still alive." She said laughing.  
"Yeah, I was worried for a moment there." Lucy said. She placed her hands around Levy's shoulders. "Shall we go in?"  
"We shall."  
"Hey, shrimp. I could use some help unpacking our stuff." Gajeel said.  
"As punishment you're bringing up the bags." Levy shot at him.  
"What? Shrimp…Levy." She ignored him as she and Lucy headed inside. When they walked in the doors they were greeted a cheerful cry.  
"Lucy! Levy!" They were both pulled into a hug by Cana, who already had a beer in her hands.  
"Man, It's good to see you two."  
"Hey Cana, got a beer already I see." Levy said smiling.  
"But of course." She raised her glass causing a little to slop out.  
"If you're here then Natsu is outside." Laxus said. Lucy nodded. Laxus sighed. "I better warn gramps." He said getting up and headed outside. Levy, Lucy and Cana headed up the third floor. The girls all stayed on this floor, the boys on the second. The first floor was divided between the kitchen and common room.

Lucy and Levy were claiming a room on the side of the house facing the sea when Mira and Lisanna walked in. "Hi you two." Mira said sitting on the bed Levy had chosen. "How have you been?"  
"I've been great. School was a killer, but what can you do about that." Levy said.  
"I'm so happy to be back here." Lucy said. "Where's your brother?"  
"Elfman? He already hit the beach." Lisanna said nodding to the balcony. The girls all went outside and looked down at the beach where they could see the white hair of Elfman in the water. He was with, surprisingly, Evergreen.  
"Those two together now or something?" Cana asked.  
"Who knows? But they seem to have the right idea. That water looks good." Mira said.  
"Then what are we doing up here?" Lucy said. She ran inside and opened her duffle taking out a bikini, the others followed her lead, Cana, Mira and Lisanna all left the room.

"Aren't you going for your bag?" Lucy asked Levy.  
"You kidding? I've have my swimsuit on since we left this morning." She said taking off her top and short pants.  
"Wish I had thought of that." Lucy said. She disappeared into the bathroom for a few moments. When she came back out she and Levy raced downstairs with the three other girls. They passed Erza, Natsu, Gray and Gajeel on the stairs.

"We're hitting the beach." Lucy called over her shoulder.  
"Wait on me!" Natsu threw his bags for Gray and Gajeel, who were already over loaded with Erza's extra suitcases.  
"Oie! Natsu, what the hell?" Gray yelled at him.  
"Salamander get back here!" Gajeel yelled. He didn't even take them on as he took his shirt. He caught up to Lucy on the sand.  
"Race you." He said laughing, kicking up sand behind him. He reached the water first but Lucy jumped on him knocking him over.  
"You're gonna pay for that." Natsu said grinning wickedly. He leapt at her tickling her sides. She burst out laughing trying to push him.  
"St-stop…Natsu. Stop!" She giggled. He wrapped his hands around her waist laughing just as hard as she was.

It wasn't long before the other's joined them. Gajeel and Gray both held Natsu pushing him under the water. Natus kicked them off.  
"Are you trying to kill me?"  
"That's for sticking us with your luggage." Gray said.  
"I'm sorry, I thought the two of you wouldn't mind a few extra bags. I guess you are just really weak."  
"What!"  
"Why you little…" Gray leapt at him but he ran out of the way. Gajeel and Gray chased Natsu down the beach. They were running back when suddenly Gray was knocked into the sand by a blue blur.  
"Gray sama! Juvia missed you so much!" She cried hugging Gray.  
"Great Juvia, I missed you too, but can you not hug me so tight. I can't breathe."  
"You really missed me?"  
"Yeah, sure…J…Juvia…need air." Gray struggled to get out words as Juvia hugged him tighter.

As the day went on more and more people were showing up. Nab and Vijeeter showed up after lunch. Laxi came not long after them. Max showed up when Laxus was grilling hotdogs outside for everyone. Natsu tried to help, but something went wrong and the grill had burst into flames. Gray and Juvia managed to pull the hose out fast enough to stop the flames before they spread too far. They couldn't save the food though.

"Natsu, that was supposed to be our dinner." Laxuz said looking at what used to be fifty hot dogs.  
"I'm sorry. I don't how it happened." Natsu said. "The flames they just…I don't know…jumped to life or something."  
"It's okay Natsu." Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder.  
"It's not okay. What are we going to do for food?" Gray said. Several others started to complain.  
"Hey! Everyone calm down!" A voice yelled. Everyone looked up to see Makarov standing on the rail of the patio. "Look why doesn't everyone go down to the carnival and get some food while I get this mess sorted out." He said indicating to the ruined grill.  
"Sounds like a good idea."  
"I'll drive!" Gajeel said.  
"No! We can walk there!" Levy yelled at him. "I swear, ever since he found out ginger cures his motion sickness he can't get enough of that car." She said to Lucy. The Fairy Tail crew headed out together walking along the road towards the pier. Along the way Levy suddenly elbowed Lucy. She nodded towards a huge ultra modern house.  
"That's Sage's place…isn't it?"  
"Yeah,"  
"You never told me what happened on your date." Levy said. Natsu spun around.  
"You went a date with Sage?" he asked.  
"Yeah, yesterday."  
"How come you didn't tell me?"  
"It was kind of last minute. I didn't even know until right before."  
"But we talked last night,"  
"We were helping you pack. It's not important anyway."  
"It's way important. What happened? Are the two off you going to start dating again." Levy said. Lucy shrugged.  
"I don't know. Sage…is…I don't know. I think I still like him." She said.  
"You think?"  
"I don't know. It's not like I'm still mad for what he did…"  
"You should be mad. Very mad."  
"Levy, could have really been her…"  
"Lucy, I love how trusting you are, but the is a point where that quality because a fault." Levy said. Lucy sighed. "Don't look now…" Levy said. Lucy looked up and saw Sage and his friends walking from the house.  
"I'm going to say hi." Lucy said walking toward them.  
"Hey babe." Sage said.  
"Hi Sage. Hey Mitch, is this Jessica?" She asked indicating to the dark haired girl holding Mitch's hand.  
"Yep."  
"So I see you're with the Fairy Tail group." Sage said.  
"We're going to the carnival to get some food, you want to come with us."  
"Hey what a coincident, we were just going to the carnival." Sage said placing his hand around her shoulders. Several persons shot glances towards the two. Everyone at Fairy Tail had heard about Sage and Lucy, so they were a little surprised to see them back together, but no one said anything.

When they got the carnival everyone most people seemed to forget about the fact that they were hungry and ran off the rides and games.  
"Gray, let's go on a ride together. One where you can put your arms around me." Juvia said pulling the boy behind her.  
"Wait, Juvia. I want a slushie."  
"Shrimp, let's go on the bumper cars." Gajeel picked Levy and threw her over his shoulder, elbowing his way through the crowds.

After Lucy and had bought a corn dog she and Sage were walking through the carnival games. She saw some dragon plushies on the top shelf at the 'Test Your Strength' booth. They were so big that two of them together would have been bigger than she was.  
"Sage aren't those the cutest things you've ever seen. The red one a so adorable." She said running over.  
"Sure, whatever." He said.  
"Can you get it for me?"  
"Babe, come on, that thing is so cheap. I can buy you a better one."  
"But I want that one."  
"Alright, alright." He took out some cash and handed it to the man in charge of the booth. The man handed him the mallet and guestred for him to step up to the plate. Sage lifted the mallet over his head and swung it down. The peg went up half way before dropping down. The man at the booth chuckled and said "You can take from the bottom shelf."  
"Hold up, I was just warming up." He said. He handed more money and sung again. This time it didn't even get half way. "That won't even get you a prize."

He swung again and it just hit the half way mark.

"You didn't pay for that last change." The man said.  
"If you add up my three tires it must get something from the top shelf."  
"Not how it works kid."  
"This game is rigged!" He dropped the mallet and grabbed Lucy. "Let's go!"  
"Wait, you have to pay for that last chance!"  
"I'm not giving to any more money you crook!"

He pulled Lucy away from the games to a quieter part of the carnival. He was still mumbling to himself about rigged carnival games.  
"It's alright. I didn't want it that much." She lied. She had really liked the dragon. He turned to her.  
"So, babe you made you're mind yet."  
"It's only been one day Sage."  
"Come one babe, how long are you going to take."  
"Sage, I'm not…"  
"If you didn't want to get back together you would have made your decision already right?"  
"Maybe…"  
"Then you must want to get back together."  
"It's not that simple."  
"You're afraid I'll hurt you again."  
"Yes."  
"Look…she kissed me. I mean, if I was going to cheat on you, wouldn't I have done it with some girl I meet at a benefit. And I most certainly wouldn't have done it when I knew where at the same benefit."  
"Is that supposed to be funny."  
"Please, babe, I'm so sorry." Sage taking her hands in his.  
"Are you really?"  
"Yes, every day I regret just introducing myself to that girl."

Lucy wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She knew she hadn't really gotten over him, but she couldn't shake this nagging feeling she had. She sighed hoping she wasn't going to regret what she was about to say.

"Alright Sage, I'll give 'us' another try,"  
"Really, babe that's awesome." He kissed her quickly. "What do you say we ditch these stiffs and head back to my place. We can cosy up under some blankets; the guys won't be back for a couple hours." He said placing his hands on her waist. She took a step back.  
"I know what you're suggesting. I thought I made it clear that I don't want that kind of relationship."  
"Seriously. Still?"  
"Yes, seriously." Lucy said with her eyebrow raised. "Is that a problem."  
"No, baby, I'm just glad to have you back. What do you say we go find out Mitch and Jessica?"  
"Sure why not?" He placed his hand at her lower back…well a little lower than that. She didn't say anything but moved his hand so she was holding it.

* * *

Okay I had so much fun writing this chapter. I'm so jealous of the gang hanging out on the beach. It's sad really I live on a freaking Caribbean island and I haven't been to the beach in months. I guess I could try and make my family go, although I suspect I'll have to go into hiding after this chapter. I expect some of you are going to come after me with pitchforks and torches for having Lucy get back with Sage.

Just think about it like a sickness, it has to get worst before it's get better. And this is about as worst as it's going to get. You have treat coming next chapter. Please don't come after with pitchforks and torches. Please. I did keep my promise and had the first part chapter flowing with NaLu. I wanted to end on a NaLu moment this time, but the chapter was getter really long. So it will be in the next chapter.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	3. Chapter 3

Things get good this chapter. I'm sure you all will be very very pleased with it.

* * *

As Lucy walked through the carnival she got glimpses of her friends. She spotted Bisca and Alzack at one of the many shooting games. Judging from the pile of stuffed animals next to them, they were doing quite well. She caught a glimpse Fried and Mira sharing a funnel cake. Juvia had somehow managed to convince Gray to share a large slushie. She swore she spotted a blush on the boy's face as they slipped together from two straws.

Gajeel ran past carrying Levy on his shoulder. She was yelling something at him but in the noise of the carnival Lucy couldn't make out the words.  
"Hey there's Mitch and Jessica." Sage said pointing out the two. The two were sitting at the ring toss failing miserably but laughing never the less.  
"You will never guess who you just missed." Jessica said to Sage.  
"Who?"  
"Betty, you know my friend from North Shore. We just talked to her like five minutes ago." Mitch said.  
"Really? Where is she?" Sage asked looking around.  
"I think she went that way." Mitch said pointing to their left.  
"Babe, you don't mind if I go say hi right."  
"No, go ahead."  
"Great." Sage gave her a quick kiss before disappearing into the crowd. Lucy was going to wait by the ring toss but after some time had passed she got bored and went to look for Sage. Instead she ran into Erza.  
"Hey, did Natsu find you?" She asked.  
"Natsu? No, I haven't seen him since we got here." Lucy said.  
"I ran into him not so long ago and he was trying to find you."  
"I'll run into him sooner or later."  
"I want to talk to you." Erza said suddenly serious. "You and Sage, are you back together?"  
"Oh, that. Kind of, I guess. I gave him another chance."  
"Are you sure that was a smart move? I know I should be the last one lecturing you about this, given my relationship with Jellal, but I just don't trust Sage. And a lot of the others agree with me."  
"I think I should give him the benefit of the doubt. Everyone deserves a second chance. You gave Jellal a second chance."  
"Yes, but Jellal and I are childhood friends, it was months before I was ready to trust him again and I lo….really care about him. How many of those things do you and Sage have?"

Lucy didn't answer because she knew they didn't have any. She wasn't even sure of her feelings, had she made a mistake?  
"Look, it's up to you if you want to get back with him. But we just don't want to see you get hurt again." Erza said placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder.  
"I know…" She decided she needed to talk with Sage. Really talk with him. "Thanks for the concern Erza." Lucy said heading off into the crowds. She looked was a solid twenty minutes when she ran into Mitch and Jessica again.  
"Sage took off." Mitch said. "He said his stomach felt weird so he headed home. He told me to tell you he's sorry and to enjoy the night with your friends."  
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder if it was something he ate. But we had all the same stuff and I feel fine." Lucy said. Mitch just shrugged. Lucy was going to look for Natsu when she thought better of it and decided to go check of Sage and see how he was. Near the entrance she ran into Levy and Gajeel.  
"You're not leaving, are you?" Levy asked.  
"Yeah, Sage went home sick, I'm going to check on him." Levy gave her a look but didn't say anything. Lucy waved good bye heading down the road towards the line of beach house. A cold breeze blew from the ocean making her shiver. She wished Natsu was here, he was always warm. She remember the moment earlier when she had woken up next to Natsu. He had felt so comfy and that moment when his lips had touched her skin…she shivered again, but not from the cold this time.

"Levy! Hey Levy! Gajeel!" Natsu pushed his way through the crowds towards the two.  
"Natsu, what's up…oh my gosh! That is so cute!" Levy squealed when she saw the red stuffed dragon in his hands. "Where did you get it?"  
"At the test your strength booth-"  
"Oh, Gajeel can we go try to get one. It's so cute, I want one." Levy asked grabbing his hand. He blushed and looked away.  
"Ahh…sure shrimp." He said.  
"Hold up!" Natsu stopped them before they ran off. "I was looking for Lucy, have you seen her?"  
"Yeah, she left a little a while ago. She went down to Sage's."  
"Thanks." Natsu turned and started pushing his way through the crowds.

When Lucy got to his house there wasn't any lights on, which she found a little strange. She rang the bell and waited. After a couple minutes she rang the bell again. Was he sleeping? She was going to ring again when the door was suddenly ripped open.

"What?..Oh, hey Lucy. What's up babe?" He said quickly stepping outside and closing the door behind him. He only had on some boxers.  
"Were you sleeping?" Lucy asked.  
"Yes, yes I was. I was sleeping." He said quickly.  
"I'm sorry to wake you, but Mitch said you weren't feeling well, so I came to see if you're okay."  
"Aren't you just the sweetest?" He kissed her on the cheek. "I'm feeling way better. Thanks for dropping by. I'll see you later." He opened the door and stepped in.  
"Wait? Aren't you going to invite me in?"  
"No! I mean, I'm really tired." He said giving a wide yawn (a bit too wide to be a yawn), "But we'll talk later. Okay? Okay." He slammed the door in her face. She jumped a little.

"That was weird." She mumbled to herself. She walked slowly back out to the road. She was deciding on which way she should go when a yelled made her jump a foot in the air.  
"LLLLLLUUUUUUCCCCCCCYYYYYYYY!"  
She turned and saw Natsu speeding down the road. He was going to fast that he couldn't slow enough to stop, crashing right into her. They ended up in a bush, with Natsu's face pressed into Lucy's chest. She blushed violently. He groaned, the vibrations, made her feel were like a bolt of lightning coursing through her body. She gasped at the sensation.

"Oh, sorry Lu," He mumbled getting up. He held out a hand helping her up.  
"Th-that's o-okay." She stuttered out. He ran a hand through her hair making her blush harder. "Wh-what are y-you doing?"  
"You have some leaves in your hair."  
"Oh…" She could help but enjoy the feeling of Natsu's fingers in her hair. It made shivers go down her spin. He stopped, with his hand still in her hair, at the nape of her neck. He gave her a grin that made her stomach twist.  
"You look really nice." He said. She took a step back blushing. She stared at her feet.  
"Is there a reason why you knocked me into a bush?" She asked unable to look at him.  
"Oh right! I forgot…where is it?" He looked around. "Ha! Here we are. I got this for you." He held out a red dragon plushie. Lucy's jaw dropped when she saw it.

"You got this for me?"  
"I just said that didn't I?" Natsu said with a laugh. Lucy took it from him still in shock.  
"How…how did you know?" She asked.  
"I happened to be near you when you ask Sage for it. I saw he couldn't win it for, so I decided I would try. It's funny, I actually rang the bell on my first try." He said scratching his nose. He was blushing. Natsu was blushing!

Lucy felt a warmth spread through her. He had won the dragon simply because he knew she wanted it. She felt a smile spread across her face.  
"Natsu, thank you. I love it." She said softly. He grinned at her words.  
"Do you want to go back to the carnival?" He asked locking his hands behind his head. She thought about it for a moment and decided that she didn't.  
"How about we go for a walk on the beach?"  
"I would like that."

They walked slowly, not really having a destination in mind. Lucy kept the dragon held against her chest.  
After walking for while in silence Natsu suddenly stopped.  
"Natsu are y…"  
"Why are you back with him?" He asked a hard, almost harsh tone to his voice. Lucy gulped looking away from him out towards the water.  
"Natsu…I'm not sure if I'm over him."  
"Lucy, he hurt you. He cheated on you." Natsu gripped her shoulders turning her towards him.  
"I know it's crazy, but I still care about him." She whispered. Natsu let a cry that sounded almost animalistic.  
"Bull shit!" He snapped. "He doesn't deserve you. If I had you I would never do what he did. NEVER!"

Lucy was shocked at his words. She opened and closed her mouth several times but no sound came out. Natsu's expression changed and he let her go. "I…I mean if I had someone like you." He said quickly turning his back to her. "Just forget I said anything."

Lucy hugged him from behind. He placed his hands over hers. "Thanks Lucy…Let's head back to Fairy Tail."  
"Yeah," She let him go and quickly wiped the corner of her eyes. They walked in silence. Lucy was going over in her head what Natsu had just said. Could Natsu…No, no way. Natsu was her best friend. That's all they were…friends. Right? She was so absorbed she didn't notice that there were two people on the patio until Natsu put his hand to stop her from walking.  
"What…" She started to say but he held a finger to his lip pointing to the patio. She eyes grew wide when she saw them and realized they were kissing. Natsu pulled her behind two coconut trees. From here they could just hear they were saying.

"I missed you these past months." A male voice said.  
"I know. I was counting the days until summer started." A girl said. Natsu and Lucy started a look, they both knew those voices. It was Mirajane and Fried.  
"I was counting the minutes." Fried said bringing Mira's hand to his lips and kissing her fingers. Natsu and Lucy were covering their mouths to stifle their laughs. Mira didn't seem to think it was funny. She placed her hand against Fried's cheek. He leaned down and kissed her again. They stumbled inside never breaking the kiss.

Lucy and Natsu didn't move from their hiding place for a while. Lucy finally broke the silence.  
"Something tells me that the rule that guys and girls have to sleep on separate floors isn't going to last much longer." She said.  
"I bet by next week we'll be finding socks on doors." Natsu said laughing a little bit. They walked into the common room and won't surprised to find it empty.  
"We probably don't want to go upstairs, unless we want to hear some suspicion sounds." Natsu said. Lucy hit him playfully for his comment. Natsu turned on the TV jumping over the back of the couch. Lucy sat down next him, curling her feet under her. She placed the dragon on her lap cuddling with it. Natsu flipped through the channels twice, and not finding anything good to watch flipped to a music channel. After a while more people started coming back. Gray and Juvia were the first. Gray was shirtless.

"What happened to your shirt?" Natsu asked.  
"I lost it…"  
"How could you lose a shirt?" Lucy asked.  
"I don't know. It was on one moment, then gone." Gray said. Juvia was staring very intently at Gray's abs. Lucy swore she could see hearts in the girl's eyes. Gray joined them on the couch. Juvia didn't sit, instead opting to lean on the armrest looking at Gray. As more persons come in, very few went upstairs instead found a place in the common room. Someone got out a few cases of beer and sodas passing them around. Some had started dancing, like Cana, who was now on the counter dancing with…believe it or not…Laxus. How she got him to it, no one knew, but several people suspected the large number of empty beer bottles next to chair Laxus had been sitting on had something to do with it.

Sometime between one and two in the morning it turned from just everyone hanging around into a full blown party. Levy and Gajeel walked in when it was in full swing and the music they were playing probably could be heard down the street.  
"Looks like you are having fun." Levy said in Lucy's ear. Lucy jumped. She had been dancing with Natsu.  
"Yeah, kind of started a party." She yelled over the music.  
"Look what Gajeel got me!" Levy said holding out a dragon like Lucy's, only it was grey.  
"Natsu got me one just like that. Only mine is red."  
"I know, after seeing Natsu with that one I asked Gajeel to get me one."  
"Hey shrimp, you wanna dance?" Gajeel's gruff voice interrupted their conversation.  
"Ahh, sure…" Levy said a little bemused. He took her hand and pulled her onto the coffee table. It was a wonder how they managed to get on, since Max and Laki were dancing on the table as well.  
"That's not going to turn out well." Gray said. The words had barely left his mouth when there was a loud crack and the table broke. Levy landed on top of Gajeel. She blushed but it wasn't because everyone was laughing.

It wasn't until about five that most people headed off to bed, the others had passed out right there in the common room. Lucy collapsed into her bed pulling her dragon with her. She was out in seconds.

* * *

Didn't I tell you that you would like the chapter. Next time a certain 'trio' makes an appearance.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	4. Chapter 4

Two good things about this chapter, a cameo by the trimens and completely Sage free. Of course there are other good things, but you'll have to read to find out what those are.

* * *

The next day it was just before noon when Lucy woke up to smells of bacon and eggs. She sat up in bed yawing widely. Levy was still asleep in her bed, but Erza's was empty. She must be up already. She rolled out of bed took a quick shower. By the time she came back out Levy was up.  
"Morning." She said brightly.  
"Morning." Lucy said smiling. "You're up early." She joked.  
"Pot calling kettle black."  
"I got up before you did."  
"Do I smell breakfast?" Levy asked sniffing.  
"Probably, I haven't been downstairs yet. Why don't you take a shower and we can go down together. I'll wait on you."

Levy nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. Lucy went outside to the balcony leaning against the railing. She loved this view. The sky and ocean merging into one on the horizon. It was one of her favourite things about being at Fairy Tail. Topped only by being with all her friends. On the sand Wendy and Romeo were building a sand castle together and in the water she saw Droy and Jet surfing…or at least trying to surf. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she glanced down. Natsu and Gray were horsing around trying to push each other into the fire pit. When Natsu almost knocked Nab over the railing Erza came outside yelling at them to be more careful.

Lucy smiled as she looked at the scene. She always felt so at home when she was around them. They were all like one big, extended family. A crazy one, maybe, but she wouldn't have it any other way.  
"Hello! Lucy!" Levy yelled at her, making her jump.  
"Why'd you yell?" She asked turning around.  
"I called you like three times but you zoned out."  
"Oh, I didn't realize." She said laughing.  
"Well come on. I'm hungry." Levy said leading the way out of the room. When they reached the common room they saw that all the windows and doors facing the ocean had been opened (note: they were kind that could be turned sideways and pushed aside) opening the whole downstairs to the sea breeze. Fried and Laxus were eating on the sofa watching TV. Laki was reading in a bean bag chair.

Lucy and Levy walked into the kitchen and found several people eating.  
"Morning!" Cana said raising her glass.  
"Morning Shrimp." Gajeel said causing bits of food to fly out his mouth.  
"Don't talk and eat at the same time." Levy said. He just grinned at her, drank half his glass of juice and burped loudly.  
"Man Gajeel. You might break the windows if you do that again." Gray said standing just outside the kitchen.  
"Jealous?" Gajeel said.  
"Like if. I could burp louder in my sleep."  
"You defiantly fart louder. You let one rip last night that almost killed me." Natsu said causing everyone to burst out laughing. Gray grabbed him around the neck and punched him on the head hard. Natsu stepped on his foot and pushed him way making him fall off the patio onto the sand. Gray leapt up and charged at Natsu, but stopped when Erza stood in between them. Both Natsu and Gray quickly apologized to each other.

"Ahh, that is the perfume that is filled of life and vigor." A voice said that made Erza go stiff as a board. Ichiya appearing seemingly from nowhere and knelt before Erza.  
"It is a crimson blossom such as yourself that fills the world with fragrance of such beauty that it should be a crime to look at." He said flouring his hands. Behind him three boys jumped out.  
"So true sir." Eve said.  
"The sight before us, is unparalleled." Hibiki said.  
"What I would do with these…" Ren said.

The three of them all disappeared and each reappeared next to someone.

"Will you please do me the honor of sharing a night with me oh elegant flower?" Hibiki said to Cana. She grinned at him.  
"Maybe if you make it interesting."  
"I would be privileged to be graced with your presence. Let me know what you wish and I will grant it." Eve said taking Lisanna's hand in his own. Elfman pulled him away.  
"You ain't doing squat for my sister." He said.  
"Would you two care to spend an evening with a true lover?" Ren said placing his hands around Lucy and Levy. Gajeel's glass broke in his hand while Natsu gnashed his teeth together. Lucy and Levy both jumped away from Ren.

"What are you Blue Pegasus boys doing here?" Laxus asked walking in.  
"We come to invite you to a party at our house tomorrow. It would not be complete without the perfume of the Fairy Tail beauties." Ichiya said.  
"Why are these brutish boys given the boon of being surrounded by such a gift, I will never know." Hibiki said covering his eyes with his forearm. Steam started to come out of the ears of every guy in Fairy Tail. Gray grabbed Hibiki and threw him outside. Natsu did the same with Ren. Elfman tossed Eve on top of the other two. To top it off Erza kicked Ichiya away.  
"Wait, do not decline. We want to invite everyone, not just from Fairy Tail. We will ask everyone on the street. But it could not be a party without you all there." Ichiya said.  
"Can the boys come?" Erza asked. The Ichiya huddled with the trio quickly. After a minute he said, "But of course, the more the merrier."  
"We'll think about coming." Erza said. the four of them all gave a cry of joy. They bowed as walked up the beach.

"We aren't really going?" Mira asked.  
"We should be safe once the guys come. I wouldn't like to be at party alone." Levy said.  
"Like we would leave you alone with those creeps." Gajeel said.

"Weirdness of the morning aside, breakfast smells good." Lucy said her stomach growling, sitting at the counter.

"What do you want? We have bacon, eggs, pancakes and toast."  
"I'll have some pancakes." Levy said.  
"Bacon and eggs for me." Lucy said. Lisanna passed Lucy the eggs and bacon while Mira dished out some pancakes. For the first time Lucy noticed something very different. There were stuffed toys everywhere.  
"What's with the plushie take over?" Lucy asked.  
"Everyone kinda went overboard at the carnival last night. Most people came back with their hands over flowing with these things." Elfman said.

"We really don't have a need for them, so we just threw them around the house." Vijeeter said.  
"I think we were the worst." Alzack said.  
"We brought back over five garbage bags home." Bisca said.  
"Five! How'd you win so much?" Levy asked.  
"We played pretty much every shooting game there was." Bisca said grinning.  
"Yeah, we just got so into it, we didn't even realize how much we won. Until they told how many animals we could take." Alzack said.  
"This one guy started cry after we won all his prizes." Bisca said. She and Alzack laughed together.

While they were eating Lucy noticed Gray and Natsu were carrying a cooler out to the front.  
"You going somewhere?" She asked.  
"A group of us are going down to the drop-off today. You two want to come?" Erza asked. Lucy and Levy shared a look. The drop-off was exactly what it sounded like a _drop off_. Basically it was a cliff where they went to go tombstoning (yes that is what it's called) or cliff diving. It was supposed to be fun, but neither Levy nor Lucy had been brave enough to jump off the last time they went.

"I think we'll pass." Levy said.  
"No way. You two chickened out last year." Gray said.  
"Yeah, you can't bail again. It's just too much fun." Cana said.  
"No thanks. There is a lot of fun to be had around here." Lucy said.  
"You don't have a choice. You two are the only ones in the house who never jumped off. Even Wendy jumped. You are going." Erza said.  
"Don't have a choice? What are you going to do, tie us up and drag us there?" Lucy asked jokingly. Ten minutes later Levy was glaring daggers at Lucy from over Gajeel's shoulder.

"You just had to give them the idea didn't you!" She struggled against the ropes binding her hands and feet.  
"How was I supposed to know they would take me seriously?" She was being carried by Natsu.  
"Come on Lucy! These are our friends we're talking about. They will do anything if challenged."  
"She has a point. We probably won't have tied you up if you hadn't suggested it." Gray said grinning.  
"We might have just held you down and forced you to come." Cana said.  
"Ha Ha, very funny. Let me go!" Levy yelled.

"Stop squirming shrimp or I might drop you." Gajeel said. He put her in the back of Gray's hilux. Natsu placed Lucy next to her, before getting the cooler. He jumped in next to Lucy.  
"What we don't even get to sit up front." Lucy asked.  
"We need the space." Erza said hopping into the tray herself. Romeo and Wendy got in too while Cana, Max, Warren and Nab got in the back seat. Juvia was in the passenger seat and Gray of course was driving.

Gajeel was driving his jeep with Droy, Jet, Reedus, Alzack and Bisca. Jet and Alzack were actually sitting on the metal frame of the jeep.  
"Aren't you guy's afraid you'll fall?" Wendy asked.  
"Nah, we'll be fine." Jet said.  
"With the way Gajeel drives I won't count on it." Levy said.  
"You're just upset that you're not riding with me." Gajeel said giving a sly grin.  
"AS IF!" Levy yelled back.  
"You so want to ride with me."  
"Not even if my life depended on it!"  
"Yo," Laxus called out as he started his Cadillac Ciel convertible. In the car with him was Fried, Bickslow, Evergreen and Elfman. "As fun as it would be to watch you two try and defuse your sexual tension for each other, we're burning day light here." He pulled off leaving Gajeel and Levy spluttering.

"Laxus, get back here so I can beat your behind for that!" Gajeel yelled. Laxus just raised his hand giving a nonchalant wave. Gajeel drove off still yelling  
"I don't like Gajeel like that." Levy huffed.  
"Sure you don't." Lucy said rolling her eyes. Levy gave her a death glare.

When they started moving Lucy noticed something was off. Natsu wasn't looking like he was about to hurl. He was actually talking with Romeo.  
"Natsu, you're not sick." She said.  
"Yeah, I convinced Gajeel to share his ginger with me." He said grinning. "It actually works. Way better that over the counter junk."  
Lucy smiled, she was happy he wasn't motion sick. It always made her sad to see her bright bubbly Natsu reduced to a sickly form.

"Can you at least untie us?" Levy said when they had been driving for ten minutes or so. "It's not like we're going to jump from a moving vehicle."  
Natsu and Erza shared a look, contemplating it.  
"I really doubt that they will jump for it." Wendy said.  
"Alright." Erza said and untied Levy. Natsu did the same for Lucy. She sighed as she rubbed her wrist.

They were driving through a coconut grove but Lucy didn't fail to notice that they were getting higher. They turned along a cliff and Lucy could see the water crashing against the rocks. She gulped.  
"It will be fine. I promise you won't get hurt." Natsu said leaning closer to her. He put his hand around her shoulders. She leaned into him glad for the comfort.

The drive to the drop-off was about half an hour from Fairy Tail. When they got there everyone got out except Lucy and Levy.  
"Come on. You're here already. Might as well just get it over with." Gray said. Natsu held his hand for Lucy. She took his hand and got out. Levy looked at Gajeel. He sighed and picked her up throwing her over his shoulder.  
"I'm not a sack of flour you know."  
"I know. A sack of flour is heavier." He said with a laugh.  
They had a bit of a walk from where they parked to the drop-off. Lucy could feel herself shaking with every step they got closer.  
"It's okay." Natsu said squeezing her hand gently.

The drop-off was a headland that jutted out into the sea, making a perfect place to go diving. What's more there a cave about hundred feet from the end of the headland that ran from the water back up the top of the headland. Someone had cut into the rock in the cave making path back up the top instead of having to go all the way to shore then back up. Now that they were here Lucy was sure she didn't want to go. She glanced over the edge looking down the water below.

"How far is it?"  
"Am, not much over a hundred feet I think." Erza said. Both Lucy's and Levy's jaws dropped.  
"We'll die."  
"No you won't. People jump from cliffs as high as three hundred." Laxus said stretching. "This is a piece of cake compared to those." He took a running start and jumping off the end flipping once in the air before angling straight down cutting into the water. His head popped back above the water waving to them.

"You just have to make sure you don't belly flop. It hurts like hell, even for a man." Elfman said.  
"Stop babbling about men and jump already." Evergreen told him. He jumped of the cliff choosing to let out a bellow as he went down. Evergreen tutted before she followed him. Next Max went, then Warren.  
"You don't know what you're missing out." Cana winked at them before jumping over. Romeo and Wendy jumped together. Alzack and Bisca when together too, holding hands.

"You aren't just going to stand there forever." Erza said.  
"No, just until you guys are ready to go home."  
"The first time is always the hardest, but once you do it's not scary." Gray said.  
"Oh, Gray. You give such encouragement." Juvia said.  
"It's not so bad Levy." Droy said.  
"You'll love it. I'm sure." Jet said.

"Look let's go shrimp." Gajeel picked up Levy.  
"Gajeel, what are you doing?" She struggled in his arms.  
"If you're not going to jump I'll jump for you. Hold on to me tight." He said. Levy blushed but locked her hands around his neck.  
"Ready?" he asked. She nodded. He jumped off the cliff. Levy let out a scream, but about half way down the scream turned into cry of laughter.

"You're up Lucy." Erza said. Lucy felt like her legs were jelly. Natsu slipped his hand into hers.  
"I'll jump with you, if you want." He said.  
"Yes please."  
"Alright." He gently led her to nearer to the edge. "On three we run and jump. 1…2…3." They ran together, Lucy gripping onto Natsu's hand. She forced out the thoughts about what she about to do and focused on his hand. They jumped and for a moment it felt like they were suspended in the air. Then gravity took over and pulled them down. Lucy felt her stomach jump into her throat. Some part of her was still conscious of Natsu's hand in her own.

They hit the water feet first and sank with a wall of bubbles. Lucy couldn't see anything, so she keep her hand in Natsu's. She felt his other hand find her waist and pull her forward pressing her against his chest. She could feel his muscles move as he kicked upwards. They broke the surface.

"That...That was amazing." Lucy said treading water, "The rush, it's just...wow. For a second I felt like I was flying. My heart is pounding". Natsu grinned at her.  
"See. And I promised nothing bad would happen."  
Lucy threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you!" She said holding him tightly. He chuckled.  
"Anything for you Lu." He said softly.

* * *

Next chapter things get really interesting, with an twist that some of you have guessed at. I'll say nothing more,

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, this chapter is a bit on the longer side. But I don't think you guys will complain about that. In fact I'll bet when you reach the end you will be clamoring for the next chapter.

* * *

As it turned out both Lucy and Levy ended up having a blast. Juvia tried to show them some different dives, but the only one they were able to do was the cannonball.  
"I don't normally like to say this but, told you so." Gray said when they had come back up after their tenth jump.  
"Okay, you all were right." Lucy said.  
"Since when do_ you_ not like to say 'I told you so'? You say it to me all the time." Natsu said.  
"That's because you're an idiot."  
"Well you're a stripper that can't keep track of his clothes." Natsu shot back.  
"I'll rather be naked than an idiot."  
"Really?" Natsu suddenly leapt at Gray and pantsed him. Everyone covered their eyes, Juvia fainted.  
"God, Natsu we didn't need to see that!" Erza said.  
"I think I'm blind." Gajeel said.  
"Man, could have gone my whole life without that image." Laxus said.

"Now you're naked and an idiot."  
"Not cool Natsu!" Gray pulled his pants up. Natsu jumped off the cliff grinning evilly. "You're going to pay for that!" Gray jumped after him. It seemed only seconds before the two came running up again from the cave. "I will kill you Natsu!" Gray leapt on Natsu pinning him to the ground. He was about to punch him when he noticed Juvia on the ground.  
"What happened to her?" He asked.  
"She fainted when she saw you naked." Evergreen said. Natsu laughed.  
"She was probably so shocked that the guy she liked had a sm-" Gray punched Natsu in the gut.  
"Shut up!" he yelled.

Erza pulled Gray off Natsu. "Alright that's enough." Natsu was grinning, even thought Gray had gotten the last hit he had given bigger blows, which in his book was a victory. Grumbling Gray sat next to Juvia shaking her gently. The others just shook their heads and went back to their jumping.

Lucy jumped off savouring that moment when she felt like the world slowed down around her as she fell. Since her first jump she hadn't been scared to jump by herself, but she missed that feeling of Natsu's hand in hers. She wanted to jump with him again, but couldn't bring herself to ask for some reason. When she landed in the water she waited for Natsu to jump. She didn't have to wait long; he jumped right after, splashing water in her face.

Laughing she splashed him back. "Watch where you're landing." She said.  
"It's not like you can get wet twice." He said. He smiled at her. The sun was setting and it had turned the sky red and orange, with wisps of pinks among the clouds. They swam back to cave together. The cave more was like funnel, at the bottom it had a wide opening, letting in the sun and sea. It curved upwards going right back up the top of the headland. There was a path cut into the side of one wall that ziz-zaged to the top.

Lucy was climbing on the rocks at the water's edge in the cave when she stepped on a moss covered one and slipped. Natsu caught her throwing his hand around her waist. She grabbed on his shoulder for support.  
"Careful, you wouldn't want to survive jumping the cliff only to fall down here." He said jokingly. Lucy didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Natsu's hand was at the base of her back, his fingers pressing against her spine. The feeling made her shiver.  
"Are you cold?" He pulled her closer pressing her against his chest. They were so close she could feel his breath against her face. Her heart was pounding in her chest, even harder that it had when she first jumped.  
"Lucy…" Natsu's voice had dropped lower and the tone had changed. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. He had a pricing look in his eyes. "Lucy, there's something I should tell you…Something I want you know…" He trailed off. Lucy found she couldn't speak. Her heart was racing so fast now she was sure it was going to explode. Natsu gently bushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers just barely touching her skin. "Lucy, I…" He was cut off by the sounds of splashing. Gajeel and Levy where swimming into the cave. Natsu dropped his hands and stepped back.

"Why are you still down here?" Gajeel asked.  
"Oh, Lucy had a little fall. We're were just making sure she's okay." Natsu said quickly.  
"Are you okay?" Levy asked.  
"Fine. Natsu caught me." Lucy said lightly.  
"Better hurry up. We only have time for a few more jumps before the sun sets." Gajeel said running up the path with Levy right behind him.  
"Right." Natsu started after them but Lucy grabbed his hand.  
"What were you going to tell me?"  
"It's not important." Natsu said. "Let's go." He ran up the path. Lucy followed but at a slower pace. She was sure that whatever Natsu had been about to tell her wasn't 'not important'.

When she got back to the top everyone was laughing at something.  
"What happened?" She asked.  
"Oh you missed it…" Levy said wiping tears from her eyes. "Juvia woke up and when she saw Gray was holding her, she screamed and fainted again."  
"Damn it Juvia. Wake up." Gray was patting Juvia's face. Her eyes flicked open and she blushed.  
"G-Gray…"  
"Good grief. What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" He asked. She blushed again. "Can you get up?"  
"I think so," He helped her stand up. She tried to take a step but her legs were shaking too much.  
"There's nothing else to do." Gray picked her up bridal style.  
"G-G…" Juvia fainted again.  
"Juvia! Juvia are you alright? Can you hear me?" Gray shook her in his arms.

"Anyone want to tell him that he's the reason she fainted?" Levy asked.  
"Why end the fun?" Cana said.  
"Alright, let's head home before Gray sends Juvia into cardiac arrest." Laxus said.  
"What? How could I do that?" Gray asked.  
"Man, you really are clueless. Even I'm not that oblivious ." Gajeel said.  
"Yeah, you just stubborn." Levy told him. Gajeel fumed. Lucy pulled Levy away before the two started yelling at each other. They hopped back into the tray of Gray's truck. Once Gray had gotten Juvia into the passenger seat and belted in they were off.

Wendy and Romeo fell asleep on the way back, leaning against each other.  
"Aww, I wish I had my camera." Levy said fawning over them. Lucy had to agree that they did look pretty damn cute sleeping like that but she was more interested with the pink haired boy next to her. He hadn't spoken to her since in the cave. She wanted to know so badly what he was had been about to say.

"You okay Lu?" he asked suddenly.  
"What?"  
"You're looking at me funny." He said. Levy and Erza glanced at them. Lucy blushed.  
"I'm not looking at you in any special way."  
"But you were looking at him?" Levy asked. Lucy glared at her.  
"No, I was just looking in his general direction." Levy, Erza and Natsu all raised an eyebrow. "I was." She insisted. They didn't push it further, much to her relief.

The sun had set when they got back to Fairy Tail. Juvia had woken up and managed not to faint again. Elfman and Laxus carried Wendy and Romeo up to their rooms while the others went to patio. They had a bonfire going on the sand and everyone was there making s'mores.  
"Hey guys, want some?" Mira asked.  
"You know it." Natsu grabbed a stick and stuck three marshmallows on it. He stuck into the heart of the fire and pulled them out flaming. He then pushed it into his mouth, still flaming.

"I've seen him do that so many times and it still amazes me." Lucy said.  
"He has no pain sensors in his mouth." Gray said.  
"In his mouth? When it comes to fire he's almost untouchable." Erza said.  
"Almost? I'm a fire dragon." Natsu said proudly. As if to prove it he jumped on to the fire pit walking quickly across the coals.

"Natsu, stop it. You're going to hurt yourself." Lucy said. He stopped walking.  
"No I wo-AIEEEE!" Natsu jumped off the coals hopping from foot to foot. "OW! OW!" He hopped to the water letting out a sigh as he dipped his feet. The others laughed at his antics. "Okay, maybe I can hurt myself a little." He said walking back to them.  
"Idiot. Let me see." Lucy said.  
"I'm fine."  
"No you're not. You're walking funny." She said fiercely. "Sit!" She pointed to the benches on the patio. He sat down and Lucy sat in front of him. She lifted his feet gently seeing that they were red.  
"We'd better put some them in some cold water." Lucy said.  
"I'll get it." Gray said disappearing into the kitchen. He came back carrying a basin of ice water.  
"Thanks," Lucy said and made Natsu put his feet in it.

"Does anyone else hear a bell?" Gajeel asked.  
"A bell what are you talking about?" Bisca asked.  
"I don't hear anything." Cana said.  
"Shush, there it is again."  
They grew quiet for a moment and did hear a bell.  
"That's the door bell." Laxus said.  
"I'll get it." Mira said running inside.  
"We have a doorbell?" Natsu asked.

"Erza someone's here for you." Mira called in a sing song voice when she came back.  
"What? Who-" She started to choke on her s'more when she say the blue haired boy walk out behind Mira.  
"Hi Erza." Jellal said smiling. She was still choking. Cana thumped her on the back hard, forcing the s'more down.  
"Hey Jellal. I wasn't expecting you until the end of the week." Erza said making a remarkable recovery for her coughing fit.  
"I came up early to surprise you." He said.  
"Well it was a surprise." She said with a smile.  
"I have-ahh…" he trailed off looking over Erza's shoulder. She glanced back and noticed that everyone had stopped eating and talking and were all looking at them. She narrowed her eyes and they all turned the person nearest them and started up a conversation.  
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Erza asked.  
"Yes, please." Jellal said quickly. The two headed down the beach. Erza shot back a look as she was leaving. They could all read the meaning – '_Follow us and you are dead.'_

She and Jellal walked a secluded part of the beach, hidden from view by a cluster of rocks. Jellal sat down on a rock shifting over the making space for Erza.  
"How have you been?" He asked when she sat down.  
"Good, really good." She said smiling. "I've missed you though."  
"I've missed you too." He said taking her hand in his.  
"What have you been doing since we last saw each other?" She asked.  
"A little of this. A bit of that." He said. Erza raised an eyebrow. "Nothing illegal. I promise."  
"I know that. If you ever got back into that life I'll have to kick your ass." She said. He laughed softly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to go through that beat down you and your friends gave me again. I'm still not sure who was worst you or Natsu."  
"Probably Natsu."  
"But don't you beat up Natsu?"  
"Yes, but I was holding back on you. I'll never be able to go all out on you." She said softly blushing.  
"Erza…" Jellal placed his hand on her cheek. "Why?"  
"Why what?" she asked confused.  
"Why do you want to be with me? Why would you even talk with me? After what I did?" He stood up, turning away from her.  
"Jellal, I thought we promised each other that those things are in the past." Erza said sternly.  
"But, hurt you. With these hands I made you hurt…" Erza stood and moved so he was facing her.  
"I've forgiven you. Why can't you find in your heart to forgive yourself?" She placed her hand against his chest. He turned away again. Erza grabbed him and forced him to face her.

"Look at me Jellal." She held his chin making him look her in the eye. "If I said I forgot the past I would be lying. I can't forget what happened. But it's not because of what you did then that I won't forget it. It's because of what you've done since. You were able to leave that side of you behind; you always say that I have incredible strength. But you are so much stronger, to leave the dark behind."  
"I was only able to do that because of you." He said.

"I can't forget the past, and I won't. But I don't care about that Jellal, he's gone. He was someone I never really knew. I care about this one. The one I met when I was a four. The one who I thought I had lost but got back. The one I love." Jella's jaw dropped.  
"Really?"  
"Yes, I love you."

He kissed her taking her by surprise. She stiffened for a moment before relaxing and returning the kiss. With one hand his fingers wove their way into her hair the other was at her back holding her close to him. She let out a moan that made him kiss her harder. When he pulled back he rest his forehead against hers.  
"Erza, I love you too." He interlocked their hands and they just stood like that for a few minutes. Suddenly Erza turned around her head shifting back and forth.

"What is it?" Jellal asked.  
"Nothing," She turned back to him shaking her head. "Nothing."  
"Oh, I almost forgot. I have a present for you." He pulled out a narrow box from his pocket. He held it for her.  
"You didn't have to get me anything."  
"I wanted to. Open it." She gently opened it and a gasp escaped her throat. Sitting in the box was a delectably crafted sliver chair with a ruby and silver katana pendant hanging from it.  
"Jellal, it beautiful." She said picking it up. He took it and moved behind her putting it on for her. She touched the pendant.

"Can I ask why a katana?"  
"It reminds me of you. It is beautiful yet breaths an air a danger. Also it is a special powerful sword, like you are a special powerful woman."  
"Now I feel bad it don't have anything for you."  
"You've already given me so much." He kissed her again.

A hour later Erza returned to Fairy Tail. They won't making s'more anymore. It looked like most had gone to bed, or at least they won't in the common room. Erza walking into her room and saw Lucy and Levy on their beds. To anyone else they would have looked they were sleeping.

"I know you two are up. I know you sent Natsu to spy and I know Cana and Mira are hiding outside on the balcony." She said. At first no one moved.  
"I was going to tell you what happened, but if you really are asl…" Mira and Cana burst in the room while Lucy and Levy were up and out of bed before she could blink.  
"Thank god, Natsu came back when he thought you had spotted him. He didn't have anything good." Mira said. Erza couldn't help but laugh.

The next evening everyone was getting ready for the Blue Pegasus party.  
"Someone explain to me why we are going to this party." Levy asked.  
"Because as creepy as those guys can get they do throw a killer party." Max were all dressed in your basic beach wear. The guys in shorts, some with a tank top like Laxus, Fried and Gajeel. The girls were all in bikini tops, with either a short pants or wrap.

"Once you don't let them catch you alone you should be fine." Mira said linking her hand with Fried.  
"If that does happen, then may the gods be with you." Gray said.  
"Especially if it's that Ichiya." Lucy said. Everyone shuddered.

As they walked along the beach towards the Blue Pegasus house they could hear the music.  
"Wow, with the music so loud I wonder why no one the street has complained." Lisanna asked out loud. When they reached the party they found out why no pne had complained. Cause there was no one _to _complain. It looked like all of Magnolia was at the party. Or at least everyone from the beaches houses. They spotted persons from Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Cuarto Cerberus and even the prepy Sabertooth .

"It looks like everyone is here." Gray said.  
"Ah, I knew I smelled a delectable perfume." Ichiya said suddenly appearing in the middle of the group. They all jumped back. "Erza, I knew you won't leave me alone…"  
"Actually, she came with me." Jellal said placing his hand around Erza's shoulder.  
"Who are you?"  
"I'm her boy friend." He said matter of factly. Ichiya's jaw dropped. The two walked off leaving him there stumbling for words.

The others disappeared into the crowd before he could recover and pick a new girl to lust over.  
"Juvia, I hoped I would run into you again." A voice said from behind Gray and Juvia. The turned around a were faced with Lyon of Lamia scale.  
"What do you want Lyon?" Gray asked bitterly.  
"Only to ask the fair Juvia for a dance."  
"Well you can't because she's dancing with me." Gray grabbed her hand and started moving to the music. Juvia lasted a whole ten seconds before she fainted.  
"What did you do you her?" Lyon leapt to her side.  
"I didn't do anything. It must be your cologne that made her pass out."

Elsewhere Cana and Bacchus had already gotten into a drinking competition. Wendy and Romeo had ran into Sherry and the three had ran off to play somewhere. Natsu and Gajeel got into a fight with Sting and Rogue that ending up with the four of them somehow falling from the roof and into the pool. Lucy and Levy sighed as they watched the four struggle. Lucy spotted one of the guys staying with Sage and went over to him.  
"Harris, is Sage here?" She asked.  
"Nah, we ate some bad clams earlier. He was going to come to the party, but was too sick. Made the rest of us come thought."  
"He's sick again?"  
"Yeah, sucks right. Hold up, I see jumbo shrimp."Harris walked off in the direction he had seen the shrimp.  
"You aren't going to see him." Levy said reading her mind.  
"I'll just check in then I'll came back."  
"Are you going by yourself?"  
"It's not like there will be anyone around. Everyone in a ten mile radius is here."  
"Not funny. At least take Natsu with you."  
"He'll probably be in this fight for a while. I'll be back before they finish." Lucy said. She waved good bye heading up the beach. She walked quickly actually hoping to be back before Natsu finished his fight, for two reasons. One, she wanted to see him finish Sting. Alright, yes they were friends, even if there had been a bit of a rivalry between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth when the latter had first showed up, but they still fought for fun from time to time. And even if it was for fun she wanted Natsu to win.

The second reason was because she didn't want Natsu to know she had gone to see Sage. She didn't know why she didn't want him know. Natsu had been acting…different around her. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that.

She saw Sage's house and noticed the light was on downstairs. It spilled out onto the back patio and sand. She saw a shadow block out some of the light. She continued walking until she saw a second shadow move across the light. Her blood ran cold. She moved until she was at the very edge of the light. Looking through the glass doors a strangled cry escaped her lips. She covered her mouth as she watched Sage and…and some girl kiss. She just stood there unable to move. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream but she couldn't. She felt the tears running down her cheeks. How could he? After she had forgiven him!

When Sage pulled off his shirt she found the power to run. She ran fast and hard, her tears making it impossible to see. She didn't stop running until she reached Fairy Tail. She ran upstairs, into her room locking the door behind her. She fell at the side of her bed not able to find the will to get up she just lay there and cried.

* * *

Yeah, you had to see this coming.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	6. Chapter 6

I know I normally update daily, but yesterday I was busy. On top of had I'm sick right now. I'm not sure how it will affect my upload time, but I will try to keep a regular pace.

This chapter doesn't have so much shipping moments, but it gets really intense and i really like the tension in it. I hope you like it too.  
And while I was writing this chapter I realized something. A couple of you asked me why I didn't use Sting in place of Sage. At really couldn't see Sting doing some of the things Sage does and in this chapter I figured out the really big reason why I didn't use Sting. Sting may have been a bit of a douche when we first met him, but he was never a coward. Sage on the other hand, well you'll get an idea in this chapter.

* * *

"Who's the best?" Natsu had Sting in a arm lock on the ground.  
"NAHH!" Sting struggled to get out.  
"Who?" Natsu tightened his hold.  
"Alright! You!" Sting yelled.  
"And don't you forget it! I win!" Natsu jumped to his feet. "Do you see that Luce?" Natsu looked around. "Lucy?"

"She left." Levy said.  
"Where?"  
"I'll give you one guess."  
"How long ago?"  
"Actually, a while now. She said she was coming back, but I'm not so sure now."

Natsu turned heading towards the beach.  
"Where are you going?" Levy asked.  
"I'll give you one guess." Natsu yelled back over his shoulder.

He ran down to Sage's beach house and rang the doorbell but got no answer. He tired two more times before he noticed the light on at the back. He jogged around to the back and stopped when he saw two persons on the coach. He was about to turn around not want to see Lucy make out with someone else, when he realized that it wasn't Lucy. Anger surged through him. That good for nothing slime ball was cheating on Lucy.

Natsu was about to kick down the door and beat the hell out of Sage when he remembered why he came here in the first place. If Lucy wasn't here then were was she. He turned and walked out onto the beach. He noticed footsteps in the sands. Two very distinct sets, one where they were shallow and closer together and going towards Sage's house. The other was further apart and heading away. Natsu wasn't a boy scout but he could tell the difference between a walk and a run. Who ever had made these footsteps had walked to the house, but then ran away. Natsu had a very good idea who he would find if he followed them.

He ran following the footsteps and wasn't surprised when they lead to Fairy Tail. The back door was slightly ajar.  
"Lucy!" he called when he walked in. No answer. He walked up to the third floor and tried the door to her room. It was locked.  
"Lucy?" He knocked, but still no answer. He pressed his ear to the door and hear muffled sobs coming from inside. "Lucy, open up." He knocked harder.  
"Go away!" She yelled.  
"Lucy please." He stood there for five minutes begging to be let in. He suddenly thought of the balcony that ran around the house and connected all the rooms. He tired the rooms next door but they were locked. He ran down the hall but couldn't find an open door.  
"Why did everyone have to lock their doors?" He said kicking one in frustration. He ran downstairs to the room he shared with Gray and Gajeel and walked out to the balcony. He looked up at the balcony above him. If he jump and grab the lower railing he could pull himself up. He tried jumping from the balcony itself but the distance was too far for him.

He took a deep breath and climbed onto the railing. He held his hands out to steady himself. He jumped up grabbing onto the lower railing. His left hand slipped and he almost lost his hold. He swung his left hand back up and grabbed the railing.  
"Its times like this I really wished I had a flying cat." He said gritting his teeth. He pulled himself up scrambling over the rails. He paused a moment before getting to his feet. This side most of the doors into the rooms were open, guess most people didn't expect someone to scale up from the outside. He walked into Lucy's room and found her on the ground. She looked up her eyes red and swollen. He didn't say anything as he sat down and pulled her into his arms.

She pressed her faced against his chest her shoulders shaking with her sobs.  
"Shh..." He said softly running his through her hair.  
"Why am I such an idiot?" She sobbed.  
"You're not an idiot." Natsu said firmly.  
"Yes I am, I always pick the worst guy to date. Their all selfish, stuck up douche bags. All they want from is my body and when I don't give that to them they go off somewhere else. Why can't I see that until it's to late? I'm a idiot."

Natsu pulled her back gently looking her in the eye. "Listen to me, you are not an idiot. You are an incredibly caring and trusting person. Any guy who has the chance to be with you and can't see that is the idiot. Not you."  
"You really think that?"  
"I do, I've thought it ever since I met you." He wiped her tears with his thumbs. "I wish those guys could see what I see if it's only so they won't hurt you anymore."  
"Natsu…" She buried her face in his neck, her body shaking with each sob. Natsu held her tightly. She cried until she couldn't anymore.  
"Natsu…thank you for…everything." She said quietly.  
"Anything for you Lucy. I'll do anything for you." He ran is hand through her hair. After some time Natsu realized she had fallen asleep. He held her in his arms looking at her sleeping form. He was going to kill Sage for hurting her, if it was the last thing he did. He heard a knocking on the door. He gently lifted Lucy up and placed her on her bed. He paused for a moment brushing some hair out of her face before walking to the door. He opened it to find Levy and Erza sanding there.

"Natsu, what are doing here? Where's Lucy?" Erza asked. Natsu held a finger to his lips and pointed to Lucy's sleeping form. Levy and Erza nodded understanding. He slipped past them heading to the steps.  
"Wait. What happened?" Levy asked.  
"Sage happened." He said darkly.  
"What did he do?"  
"He's a dead man, that's all you need to know." He walked down the stairs as Erza and Levy stared a look. Neither knew what to make of his statement. Natsu didn't head to his room. He walked out into the night felling the cold night air. But it didn't make him cold, he was too angry to get cold. His blood boiled. He wanted to go to Sage's right now, but a part of him held back. He knew he wasn't thinking straight and if he went right now he might do something he would regret later, not matter how much the bloody son of a bitch deserved it. He walked along the beach trying the control himself. It was after sun rise before he felt like himself, or at least he didn't want to rip Sage's head off.

He still wanted to hurt the bastard, but he felt like he would be able to control himself now. He walked up the back steps to Sage's house. He banged on the door until one of the guys staying with Sage opened it.  
"Hey aren't you one of Lucy's friends? What are you doing here?" he asked. Natsu didn't answer but pushed passed him. In walked into the house and saw a group of guys sitting at a table eating breakfast, among them was Sage. He walked over and yanked the boy out his chair. The others at the table jumped to their feet but Sage held up his hand stopped them.  
"What's wrong with you bro?" He asked nonchalantly.  
"I'm not your _bro _so don't call me that." Natsu snarled. He pushed Sage back and one of the boy's friends braced him.  
"Look, I don't know what I did to you but your one of Lucy's friends, so you're a friend of mind."  
"I know what you did you to Lucy." Natsu said.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"I was here last night. I saw you and that other girl. You're lucky I don't rip you apart right now."  
"What girl? Dude, I was home sick last night. Ask any one of my buddies."  
"Don't try and deny it. Lucy saw it too. She was up half the night cry!" Natsu's hands were shaking now.  
"I don't know what you think you saw last night, but I would never cheat on Lucy."

All the anger he had spent the night trying to suppress came back in a wave. He leaped at Sage punching him across the jaw. He turned on his heel and brought his other foot him, slamming it into Sage's right side. The boy hit the floor. Natsu was about to jump on him when one of Sage's friends elbowed him in the face. Another punched him on the gut. All of Sage's friends at the table ganged up on Natsu beating him to the ground.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry." Levy said wrapping the girl in a hug when she had finished telling them what had happened the night before.  
"No you're not. The only reason you haven't said I told you so is because I look like a wreck." Lucy said accepting the hug anyway.  
"Alright, I did warn you, but I really am sorry. No one should have to find out the way you did." She said. Lucy sniffed a little. She bit back the tears. She wasn't to cry any more. She wasn't going to waste any tears over him. Not anymore.

Besides, her head hurt and her eyes were sore and swollen from last night.  
"Let's go get you some breakfast." Erza said gently. Lucy just nodded as she let the two of them lead her down stairs.  
"Whoa!" Gajeel exclaimed when he saw Lucy. "What ha…" He cut himself short when Levy threw an angry look his way and made a signal cutting her hand across her throat. Everyone else in the room got the message and didn't say anything as the blonde sat at the counter. Mira placed a cup of coffee in front of her without a word.  
"Thanks Mira," Lucy said clutching the cup but not drinking. She placed her head in her hands. Mira took the moment to have a silent conversation with Levy and Erza.  
'_What happened?' _She mouthed.  
'_Sage.' _Erza and Levy mouthed back. Mira shook her head sadly. Cana made a sound of disapproval. Suddenly Lucy's head popped up.  
"Has anyone seen Natsu?" She asked.  
"No, I haven't seen him all morning." Mira said gently. Lucy turned to Gray and Gajeel. Both boys shrugged.  
"He wasn't in the room when we got back last night or this morning when we got up." Gray said. Lucy frowned taking a sip of her coffee. The girls tried to get Lucy to have some breakfast but she refused everything.  
"Lucy you have to eat something." Mira said holding a plate of fruit for her. She shook her head.  
"I'll eat later." She said getting to her feet. "I think I'm going to have a nap."  
"Alright, I'll come check on you later." Levy said. Lucy disappeared upstairs and everyone rushed at Levy and Erza demanding to know exactly what happened. The two retold the story just as it had been told to them.

"When I see that little punk, I'll bash his head in." Cana said punching the counter.  
"You'll have to get in line. No one does that to someone from Fairy Tail." Gray said cracking his knuckles.  
"Looks like we'll have our chance, guess who's coming up the beach." Erza said looking outside. Sure enough Sage, and all the guys who were staying with him, were coming up the beach. Erza marched outside flanked by Gray and Gajeel. Right behind them was Levy, Cana, Wendy, Mira, Laxus, Elfman, Droy and Jet. The others won't far behind them either.

"I want to talk to Lucy." Sage said facing Erza.  
"I don't think she wants to talk to you right now." Erza said sharply.  
"Well I don't shitting care! I want to know why she made this shit head attack me." Sage moved aside and two of his friends threw Natsu on the sand at Erza's feet. His right eye was swollen shut. He had a cut at his hairline that was bleeding into his left. There was bruises all over his body.

"What did you do to him?" Erza yelled. She and Gray helped Natsu get his feet. He was really out of it, leaning all his weight on Gray.  
"He brought that on himself. He came to my place and attacked me unprovoked. If my boys hadn't held him off me him might have done a lot more than this." Sage pointed to a bruise on his jaw.  
"That scratch made you do this to him." Gajeel asked stepping forward.  
"His lucky that my boys got to him before I could. Otherwise he would be looking a lot worst." Sage snapped. Laxus scoffed.

"Yeah right, like a prissy boy like you could ever go up against Natsu." He said.  
"He doesn't look to good right now does he?" Sage said with a smile. Everyone in Fairy Tail bristled. Gray and Gajeel started forward, but Levy and Juvia held them back. Cana had found an empty beer bottle and was about to throw it but Mira grabbed her hand.  
"I'm sure if Natsu hadn't been so outnumbered he wouldn't be the one covered in bruises." Erza said keeping her voice steady.

Lucy was lying in bed holding the dragon Natsu had gotten her when she head voices. She walked out to the balcony and looked down. She saw everyone in the house out on the sand and patio. Sage and his friends were facing them. Why was he here? That was when Lucy saw Natsu, and how beat up he was. She didn't hesitate, turning around and running downstairs.

"You're lucky my gramps isn't here right now. He would have already kicked your butts outta here. So I'm only telling you once. Get off our beach." Laxus said leaning close to Sage. He boy took a step back.  
"I'm not leaving until I see Lucy." He said.  
"Well that's not going to happen." Levy said.  
"Then I'm not going to leave."  
"Look punk, I said I'll only say it once." Laxus lifted his hand.  
"You want me gone, fine. Just go get Lucy. The b –" his head twisted around as Natsu's fist slammed into his jaw. Natsu landed three more hits before Sage's friends held him back.  
"If you ever talk about her like that, I'll rip out your tongue." Natsu said spitting blood at Sage. Sage kicked Natsu below the belt while his friends held him. Natsu crumpled to the ground. Sage lifted his foot again bringing it down towards Natsu's head.

Lucy dived in front of Natsu taking the kick in the knee. She hit the sand with a cry of pain. Sage retreated several steps. Natsu tried to get up but he was in too much pain. Levy and Wendy ran next to Lucy, while Erza and Gray jumped in front of her.  
"Alright that's it." Gray said bring his fist up.  
"Wait." Lucy said. She got to her feet with Levy's help.  
"You want to talk to me. Well here I am. Talk." She said to Sage.

"I don't what got into your friend, but he attacked me, not the other way around. Those wounds are from self defense."  
"Save it for someone who cares." Lucy snapped.  
"I don't what that idiot told you babe –"  
"Don't call him an idiot, and don't call me babe." Lucy said. "He didn't have to tell me anything. I saw you last night. I should have known that you only wanted a booty call when you tried so hard to get together." She said. "If you have nothing else to say then leave." She turned sharply stooping next to Natsu. Sage took a step forward but Erza and Gray blocked his way.

"You'll better leave while you have the chance." Erza said.  
"Or what?" he scoffed.  
"Let us tell you a little Fairy Tail secret." Gray said grabbing his shirt. "You hurt one of us,  
"- you hurt all of us." Erza said.  
"And when you hurt Fairy Tail we hurt back." Gajeel said. "So this is the last chance you have before you get the entire wrath of this family coming down on you."

Sage pulled himself from Gray's grip. "Was that a threat?"  
"No a promise. We so much as smell you around here you won't live to see the next morning." Laxus said.  
"You think you can take me and my boys on. All of us are star athletes, wrestling, baseball and football. If you knew what's good for you better beg for our mercy right now. We aren't people you want angry at you."

"If _you _knew what's good for you, you would have already been gone. Fairy Tail is the last group you want to make enemies with." Erza said. Sage started at her but Gajeel grabbed him and lifted him off his feet.  
"Trust me, she's the last person here you want to start a fight with." He said with a grin. He threw Sage at his friends, knocking over two of them. Sage got to his feet and dust himself off.  
"This isn't over, we'll be back." Sage said and he with his crew ran back up the beach.

"Lucy are you okay?" Levy asked.  
"I'm fine, I'm more worried about Natsu." She replied. She had his head cradled on her lap. His face was twisted in pain  
"That Sage if a freaking wimp." Gajeel said.  
"What kind of man kicks below the below the belt?" Elfman said.

"One who's a coward." Laxus said. Gray and Gajeel lifted Natsu up together and carried him inside laying him down on the couch. Lucy sat on the floor next to him.  
"Can someone get me the first aid kit? And some ice packs?" Lucy asked. Wendy ran off returning a minute later with the requested items giving them to Lucy. Levy watched as Lucy began to clean Natsu's wounds and started to push people out of the room.

"Wait why are we going? I want to find out if Natsu is okay." Romeo said.  
"You can find out later." Levy whispered. "Everyone out, go to the beach, the carnival, something. Just get out of the house." She pushed everyone outside and closed the doors behind her.

Lucy hadn't even noticed that everyone that left. She was wiping the cut above Natsu's eye when his eyes opened.  
"Lucy…" He groaned out.  
"Shh…I know it hurts, but this will help." She said softly. He winced as she pressed the cloth, soaked in alcohol to his head but relaxed as she blew on it afterwards. Her breath made the alcohol turn cool against his skin.  
"Natsu, why would you go to Sage's house alone?" She asked as she pressed an icepack to a black and blue splotch on his side.  
"I couldn't let him get away what he did to you." Natsu said.  
"Natsu, you didn't need to do that." She said looking down. He gently cupped her chin and titled her head upwards.  
"Yes, I did. That guy should burn for what he did to you." He said a fierce spark in his eyes. Lucy trembled a little bit as she watched him. The look in his eyes made her heart pound.

"But look at what he did to you…all because of me. It's my fault that you got hurt like this." She turned away from him tears running down her face. Natsu sat up quickly and slid to the ground next to her. He wrapped her in a warm embrace.  
"No. No, it's not. It's because Sage is too much of a coward to face me in a fair fight. He has to hide behind all his friends." He said trying to soothe her.  
"It still doesn't change the fact you got hurt."  
"This?" he laughed. "I get worst injures when I'm roughhousing with Gray and Gajeel."  
"Look at you, your covered in bruises."  
"And I don't mind. These aren't wounds, they are proof that I fight to protect those who are precious to me. And no one is more precious to me than you are Lucy."  
"Natsu, I don't deserve a friend like you." She said. He smiled and shook his head.  
"I don't deserve someone like you in my life." He said kissing her forehead. Lucy felt her heart race. She sighed and leaned into his embrace tucking her head under his chin, marveling at how warm he was. He held her tightly in the quite of the empty house.

* * *

Again, I'm sorry the chapter is late. And if any future chapters are late, I apologize in advance. I really hate being sick sadly I can't control it. If only someone will float a rainbow cheery blossom tree in the river near my house to help me feel better.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	7. Chapter 7

Another chapter a day late. Sorry guys, I really am, but better late than never.

* * *

Lucy was staring daggers at Levy.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." The girl said simply not looking up from her book. Lucy leaned down and snatched the book from her hands.  
"Really? You don't know why everyone suddenly decided to leave earlier."  
"No, not a clue." Levy battered her eyelashes at Lucy. "Now can I get my book please?" She held out her hands but Lucy shook her head, instead waking to the balcony and suspending the book over the side.  
Levy jumped to her feet.

"You wouldn't…" Levy said.  
"One way to find out." Lucy grinned at her. She feinted dropping the book. Levy closed her eyes for a moment flinching when she saw the book leave Lucy's hand for a split second.  
"Lucy, let's be reasonable here…"  
"I'm not hearing what I want too…" She let the book slid a little from her grasp. Levy gave a cry.  
"Alright! I made everyone leave. Just don't drop the book."

Lucy smiled and walked back inside handing Levy her book. She let out a sigh a relief and clutched the book to her chest.  
"You going to tell me why you made everyone leave earlier?" Lucy asked.  
"To give you and Natsu some alone time. Why else?"  
"Me…and Natsu…why?"  
"Are you seriously asking that question?"  
"Yes, I seriously am."

Levy sighed. "Sometimes you are as clueless as a guy. He likes you."  
"Of course he does, he's my best friend." Lucy said. Levy hit her on the head with the spine of her book. "OW! What was that for?" She said clutching her head.  
"Hello! Lucy, he likes you, as in likes you likes you."  
"Natsu…" She laughed out loud. "Come on, this is Natsu we're talking about. He my best friend."  
"Who happens to be madly in love with you."  
"No, he can't be…can he?"  
"You know that he does, the signs are all there. I don't why you don't do anything about it. You so obviously like him too."

Lucy started sputtering incoherent phrases.  
"Try and deny all you want. You know it's true."  
"Alright I'll admit it…"  
"Yes –"  
"As soon as you admit you like Gajeel."  
It was Levy's turn to splutter incoherently. Lucy gave Levy a wicked grin knowing she had turned the tables.  
"Try and deny it all you want. You know it's true." She said throwing back Levy's words at her.  
"Gajeel and I are just friends."  
"Sure, just like Bisca and Alzack are _just friends_…or Mira and Fried."  
"I –" Levy was cut off by a blood curdling scream.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.  
"It sounded like it came from downstairs." Levy said running out the door. Lucy was right behind her. They raced down the stairs. They won't the only ones. Everyone in the house had heard the cry and all raced to see what made could make such a noise. They found out when they all reached the final landing. Mira and Lisanna who had been at the head of the group stopped suddenly on the stairs causing the others behind them to crash into one another. They barely managed to stop from toppling out of the stairway.

"SNAKES!" Lisanna yelled and tried desperately to get back up the stairs but couldn't because of the backup. In the common room there were at least a dozen snakes slithering around. In the room Laki was on top of the couch, Juvia had somehow jumped on Gray's shoulders. He was struggling to hold her while avoiding the snakes. Wendy and Romeo were on the coffee table (the newly replaced coffee table).

Erza and Natsu came running in from the beach and stopped when they saw the snakes.  
"What the hell?" Natsu asked.  
"Someone left us a package on at the front door." Laxus said trying to grab one of the snakes and jumping back with it snapped at him. "I should have known something was off. It was addressed to Fairy Tail, not anyone specific." he said.  
"I can guess who sent it." Natsu said. He looked over the stairway and caught Lucy's eye. She frowned knowing who he was talking about. Laxus leapt again and grabbed one of the snakes.

"Ha, take that." He said as he held it firmly behind the neck. "We can't just let these things run free around here. Help me round up the rest." The guys and Erza working together to round up the snakes while the girls retreated up stairs.

"We can help you know." Lucy said from the stairway.  
"No way. You are staying right there. Where you can't get hurt." Natsu said pointing at her.  
"This is ridiculous. Why can't we help?" Levy said folding her arms.  
"Because if you get hurt I'll have to kill Sage, and I really don't want to go to jail for killing a wimp." Gajeel said.  
"You're letting Erza help you." Mira said.  
"That's because Erza is Erza. Now get back up those stairs." Fried said. "Or we'll use something to block it."  
"You guys can be so melodramatic sometimes." Cana said heading back up the stairs with the others behind her.

Capturing the snakes hadn't taken that long, but Gajeel had gotten bitten by one on the leg. For awhile they had a scare but after looking up the snakes online it turned out all of them were either kingsnakes, corn snakes or ball pythons, none of which were poisonous.

"I'm sorry everyone. This is all because of me." Lucy said when all the snakes had been caught and everyone had gathered in the common room.  
"It's not your fault." Natsu said placing his arm around her shoulders.  
"It's that little weasel Sage." Gray said. He looked over at the giant glass punch bowl they had placed all the snakes in for the time being. The concave side made it impossible for the snakes to get out.  
"I say we deliver the snakes back to Sage. See how he likes it." Gajeel said.

"Not that isn't a good idea. But I may have a better one." Erza said. She was on her laptop. She looked up with a wicked grin. "After all we are Fairy Tail. We don't just match our opponents, we out do them."  
"What do you have in mind?" Natsu asked leaning forward eagerly.  
"While we can all agree that non-poisonous snakes is a pretty good score, this one is _very_ good." She turned her laptop around for everyone to see.

"Oh, that is wicked cool." Gray said grinning.  
"You have an evil mind my friend." Mira said holding up her hand. Erza high fived her.  
"I didn't even know you could get those online." Levy said.  
"It's the internet. You can get anything." Gajeel said grinning wickedly at the screen.  
"Erza I love the way your mind thinks." Natsu said.  
"I'll place an order right now. Express delivery. Sage will get our little gift tomorrow morning." Erza said typing quickly. "How many should I order?"  
"He sent a dozen snakes here, I say we send a dozen for him." Laxus said.  
"Alright one dozen s –"  
"Whoa! Hold up, I can't let you do that." Lucy said. Everyone looked at her.

"Lu, come on this guy cheated on you. Twice! And then he dropped a box full of snakes at our house." Levy said. Lucy shook her head.  
"No, that's not what I meant. I can't let you pay." Lucy said taking the laptop from Erza.  
"You don't have to pay. I'll happily –"  
"Who said anything about me paying. Oh no, I'm charging this to Sage's credit card." Lucy said with a grin.  
"Brilliant. Lucy, that is so ingenious." Natsu said.  
"How do you have Sage's credit card?" Levy asked.

"The bum never took the effort to get me a gift for my birthday or Christmas. He gave me his card number and told to get something for myself. Funny thing is I felt so bad I never got anything with it. Until two seconds ago when I got Sage his special gift…oh and what do you know I just ordered three dozen specialty pizzas for us, extra large, extra toppings. On Sage's tab."  
Everyone cheered.

The next morning this despite the cheese induced comas everyone managed to get up just as the sun was up. They headed down the beach and sat down the sand.  
"The show should be starting any minute now." Natsu said. They didn't have to wait long before they heard the yells from inside. Natsu chuckled.  
"I think they opened it." He said.

Sage and every other occupant of the house ran out yelling. They ended up tripping over each other, landing in a pile on the sand.

When Sage heard the laughter he looked up and saw Fairy Tail. Most of them had fallen over because they were laughing so hard.  
"YOU!" He yelled out.  
"Enjoy the present we sent you?" Erza asked grinning.  
"We sure enjoyed ours." Laxus said holding up a ball python. "We're thinking about keeping them as pets." He grinned.  
"SKUNKS! You sent skunks to my house!" He shoved the boys off him and marched over. They all took steps backs, covering their noses.  
"Oh man, you reek." Gray said.  
"Dude, go get some tomato juice. It's supposed to help that smell." Gajeel said.

"Okay you want to mess with me. This means war."  
"Bring it on." Natsu walking up to Sage until they nose to nose. They stared at each other until Sage turned away walking back to his friends.  
"Thanks god, I don't how much longer I would have been able to hold my breath." Natsu said loudly. Sage turned sharply and ran at Natsu, fist raised. Natsu side stepped him and stuck his foot out. Sage tripped and hit the sand, hard. Fairy Tail rocked with laughter. They waved at Sage and his crew as they made their way back up the beach.

"Oh, and by the way. Thanks for those pizzas last night." Lucy said cheerfully waving to Sage. Sage gave her confused look and mouthed the word 'pizza'.  
Back in the Fairy Tail common Mira was handing out celebratory beers and sodas.  
"That will go down in Fairy Tail history as one of the greatest pranks ever." Natsu said jumping on the coffee table. "Let's toast to Erza, the Fairy Queen who came up with the brilliant idea." He raised his glass and everyone followed sooth. "And of course the lovely lady who put it over the top by making the bastard pay for the whole thing. Lucy." They all cheered again. Natsu grinned in Lucy's direction and winked at her. She blushed while Cana and Levy clapped her on the back.

* * *

And this is only the start of the war. The next chapter it gets turned up a notch.

Oh, and if you were wondering, if Jellal had been at the house when the snakes were running free Erza would have been in that stairway just like the other girls.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	8. Chapter 8

This chapter was intially going to the first part of the prank war between Sage and Fairy Tail, but I ended up expanding my idea for them keeping the snakes so much that it ended up being chapter length. So this chapter they go to the zoo. and the boys end up in some trouble...

Oh, And there is another cameo...of sorts...with a certain...lion.

* * *

"Grapms let us keep them." Natsu pleaded running after Makarov.  
"No, I'm not having such vile beast in this house." He said walking away.  
"But there not vile. They are actually kind of cute." Natsu said.  
"What?" Makarov turned around and found five snakes shoved in his face. "Get those things out of my face!" He snapped pushing Natsu, Gajeel and Gray back.

From the pool table Max, Warren, Reedus and Alzack all looked up from their game grinning.  
"They are actually really tame gramps." Laxus said holding one of the snakes in his hands.  
"Not you too Laxus." Makarov clapped a hand to his brow.  
"We'll take really good care of them. We promise!" Natsu said.  
"Alright, this is only the first week of the summer. Tell me my shitty children, when you leave at the end of the summer who will take care them."  
"You will and Laxus." Gajeel said matter of factly.  
"One, I'm not taking care of twelve snakes. Two, Laxus leaves for college in the fall. Three, I am not taking care of twelve snakes!"

"What about if we just keep a few?" Erza asked.  
"No!"  
"Please!" Came a chorus from the entire common room.  
"NO!"  
"Please Grapms." Romeo said, "You might find it nice to have a pet around the house."  
"I also thought it would be nice to have a bunch of teenagers running around my house. I was wrong on that one."  
"If you don't like us here then why do let us come here every summer."  
"My great, great, great…a lot of greats grandmother opened this house before I was even in the notion of being born. Who am I to go against her wishes?" He paused for a moment. "Only one."  
"What!?"  
"You can have only one."

"Gramps you rock." Natsu hit the old man on his back causing him to go stumbling forward.  
Grumbling to himself, he walked towards the door.

"I'll be gone for the day…or maybe more." He left mumbling about shitty children.  
"Which one should we keep?"  
"I want this one." Natsu said holding a python.  
"That's the one that bit me." Gajeel said.  
"I know. That's why I want it. It's obviously a good judge of character."  
"Dragoneel what's that supposed to mean?"  
"Wait, why does the pink head get to choose which one we keep?" Gray said.

"Well who gets to choose then." Lucy said.  
"I caught the most snakes. I should choose." Laxus said.  
"You caught one more than me. That doesn't give you power to choose." Natsu said.  
"It gives me better claim than anyone."  
"No way. You'll probably just take that yellow one cause it's your favourite colour."

Erza put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her.  
"Everyone just chill. Need I remind you the last time we had a fight in the house we had to replace one of the walls." She said. "Now if we're going to take a snake then we should let the person who got us the snakes in the first." She turned to Lucy.

"Me? But I didn't…Sage he sent…"  
"Yeah, he did send them. And even if it wasn't meant as a gift we can still turn it into one. That will probably just annoy him all the more." Erza said.  
"I don't know."  
"If we leave it to them they'll destroy the house."  
"Well, I guess I like that one." Pointing to the one in Natsu's left hand. It was a Kingsnake, but almost pure white.

"This little guy? He's so tiny." Natsu said holding up the snake. It was definitely the smallest one of the bunch.  
"I know, that's why I like him so much…or her…how do you tell the difference between a guy and girl snake?" Lucy asked taking the snake from Natsu. She smiled as it wrapped around her wrist. Natsu smiled too.

"I'm not sure, but I think I know a place we can find out." Lisanna said. "The local zoo."  
"That sounds good, we can ask them if they will be willing to take the other snakes off our hands." Evergreen said.  
"Alright, I guess we are going to the zoo." Gray said jumping to his feet.  
"Oh boy!" Romeo jumped up and ran outside. "The zoo!"  
"What are we going to take the snakes in?" Fried asked.  
"How about some card board boxes? We can punch some holes in the top." Mira said opening up some cupboards looking for the boxes.

"I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo." Natsu said.  
"Really?" Lucy asked.  
"Yeah, I remember a little, not much thought. Dad was the last person to take me to a zoo." Natsu said. Lucy took his hand in hers. He gave her small smile. She smiled back and squeezed his hand gently. The entire ride to the zoo she held onto his hand and he didn't seem willing to let go. When they got to the zoo Laxus went to find someone to talk too about the snakes while everyone else walked around the zoo.

The second Natsu was inside the zoo he was running around like a mad man, pulling Lucy behind him.  
"Natsu, slow down!" She called. "The zoo isn't that big, I'm sure we can see everything." She laughed as he his head swerved back and forth at a fork in the path.

"Hey, smartass. It makes a loop, it doesn't matter which way you go." Gajeel said walking pass. Lucy noticed he had his hand around Levy's shoulders. She caught the girl's eyes and gave a questioning look. Levy just shrugged, but she was smiling slightly and had a faint blush on her cheeks. Lucy gave her thumbs up. Gajeel didn't notice, but Natsu did.

"What was that about?" He asked.  
"Oh, nothing." She said smiling. He looked between Gajeel and Levy and Lucy.  
"I miss something?"  
"You boys always miss something." She said walking in the direction that Levy and Gajeel had gone but Natsu suddenly grabbed her hand pulled her the other way.  
"Let's go this way." He said.  
"You know it doesn't make a difference."  
"Yeah, but everyone is going that way. I'd rather see the zoo by myself."  
"But why are you taking me with you then?"  
"Let me rephrase, I'd rather see the zoo by ourselves. Just you and me."

Lucy didn't know why her heart suddenly started pounding in her chest. He took her hand in his and pulled her along (albeit, slower that he had at first). They walked along stopping by each animal so Natsu could get a good look (and in some cases so he could annoy the hell out of the animal). They stood by the lion enclosures for a good ten minutes as Natsu tried to get them to move. For their part they didn't seem to want anything to do with Natsu.

"You can holler all you want. They ain't going to move unless they want too." A zoo keeper said walking over to them.  
"Can't they just move a little bit?" Natsu said.  
"Sure, when they are good and ready. Not a moment before." He said.  
"Come on Natsu. If you want, we can pass back before we leave." Lucy said. As she started to speak one of the male lions got up and staked over. It stopped right in front of them.  
"Oh, looks like he likes you."  
"Whoa, he's so big." Lucy said in wonder.  
"He's name is Loki. Pretty weird guy, for a lion." The zoo keeper said. The lion kept steering at Lucy. Natsu pulled her back steering back at the lion.  
"She's not food, or anything else." He said. The lion yawned at him. "What kind of name is Loki anyway?" Natsu mumbled walking off pulling Lucy behind him.

"Bye Loki." Lucy called.  
"Don't tell a lion goodbye." Natsu said.  
"Why not? You said goodbye to almost all the other animals."  
"I don't like this lion. He was looking at you funny."  
"It's a lion Natsu."  
"So? Was still looking at you funny."

Lucy chuckled and fell into step with him. They stopped at the next enclosure which was coyotes. There was a small family in the corner. Two adults and three pups.  
"Oh aren't they so cute." Lucy said gushing.  
"Yeah...pretty cute." Natsu said but he wasn't looking at the coyotes but at the look on her face. The zoo keeper walked over and chuckled.  
"That's our very own Belle and Beast."  
"Belle and Beast? As in the fairy tale couple beauty and the beast?" Lucy asked.  
The keeper nodded.  
"Interesting story, those two. They were separated at first. First we found Beast, he was injured about ten miles from here, so brought him in for treatment. But the first couple of days here he acted to crazy he only made his injuries worst. He ran around the place smashing into things. That's how we gave him the name. For a while he couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Then suddenly he stopped running around so much. Instead he started howling all the time.

"We were at a complete loss. Then someone called in a female coyote, not far from where we found him. When we got there we realized that she was pregnant. At the time we brought her back for treatment too, but we had them where they couldn't even see each other. But for some reason when ever Beast started to howl she would get all worked up. Then someone finally put one and one together, they were mates. I'm not really sure what it would look like when a coyote is happy but those two were defiantly happy to be back together. We were going to name her Shelly, but we changed to Belle to go with Beast."

"That story is so sweet," Lucy grinning.  
"They could actually tell it was each other?" Natsu asked.  
"Oh yeah. Coyotes are monogamous."  
"Mono – what now?"  
"Monogamous, it means that they mate for life. We figured they missed each other that why they acted so erratic. We've had them about three months now. Once Belle and Beast are fully healed we'll be releasing the whole family up in the mountains."  
"That is such a romantic story." Lucy said with a sigh. Natsu smiled and took Lucy hand in his. Lucy looked down at their linked hands then up Natsu.  
"Yeah, it is romantic." He grinned causing Lucy to blush and look away. But she didn't let his hand go.

They walked hand in hand until they reached the reptile and fish house, it was a long hallway, divided into different rooms. When they walked in they found most of Fairy Tail in there.  
"Hey guys, come over here for a moment." Laxus said calling out. He was standing near the back of the room. They walked over and saw he was standing with a young attractive woman. She had short black hair and grey eyes and an extremely curvy body.

"Everyone this is Dr. Rose Diaz. She's the head herpetologist here and she said they would be happy to take the snakes from us." Laxus said. Suddenly Max was at the front of the group.  
"Dr. Diaz allow me to introduce myself. I'm Max Alors. Can I s –" he was suddenly pushed out of the way by Warren.  
"Hi, I'm Warren…"  
"Dude, I was talking to her." Max pushed him back.  
"It's not like you are the only one who can talk to her." While the two of them argued Nab stepped forward and introduced himself, but he had barely gotten out "N – "when Vijeeter had taken his place.

"Since when did the guys become like the ones in Blue Pegasus." Cana asked out loud. Most guys were in a small scuffle now and they ones that won't were all looking at Dr. Diaz.  
"I can see what you meant now when you said your friends were….energetic." Dr. Diaz said.  
"I didn't use the word energetic." Laxus said.  
"Yes, but I don't think it's appropriate to use the word you used." She said smiling. "Would you all like to come to the bag room and see the behind the scenes stuff?" She asked the ground. The boys suddenly stopped fighting and all yelled yes.

"Oh, boy this should be fun." Mira said frowning. She wasn't the only girl frowning either. Dr. Diaz led the way through a door and they came out into a white wall room. A stark difference to the darken hallway from before. They all crowed around a metal table where their snakes were laying out.

"It's not every day we get a donation of eleven snakes. We'll have to keep them isolated for a while, make sure they don't have an disease and we'll have to work out some new enclosures for some of them, but this is a really beautiful set."  
"They aren't the only beautiful thing in the room." Reedus said. Several of the boys nodded at that comment and several of the boys paid the price for nodding at that comment (let's just say there were a lot of crushed feet at that moment).

"Laxus mentioned you wanted to keep this one." Dr. Diaz said holding up the white kingsnake.  
"Would that be okay?" Lucy asked.  
"Of course, the kingsnake is actually a very docile species. Perfect to have as a pet. It's just really rare to come across an albino."  
"It's an albion? How did we miss that?"

Now that she had it pointed out they all saw the vast difference in the coloring on this snake compared to the others.  
"She is a beauty."  
"It's a she?" Lucy asked, Dr. Diaz nodded. "How can you tell?"  
"Oh it's very simply. Snakes have a slit in between the scales on the bottom of their bodies towards the tail. We call it the vent. What we do is take a probe and stic –"

Everyone in the room started to make noise and covered their ears.  
"I think we get the picture." Lucy said. Dr. Diaz laughed and handed the snake to Laxus. "Well I'm sure she'll be happy with you all. I gave you list of things you'll need and of her diet so you should be all set."  
"Thanks Doc." Laxus said. "We'll get out of your hair now."

"Come on, we don't have to leave yet. I want to find out more about snakes." Warren said. they was a lot of pushing and pulling and they ended up in the aquatic section of the reptile and fish house. The girls walked to the head of the group.

"Is it me…or are they angry." Natsu said.  
"How should I know, they go through mood swings all the time." Gray said.  
"I thought girls only mood swing when they are PMS-ing." Alzack asked.  
"Are they?" Max said.  
"Like I know how to tell that kind of stuff." Warren said.  
"Ask 'em. Hey are you all PMS-ing!" Gajeel called out loudly drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He had to duck as half a dozen shoes and sandals flew at his head.  
"Dude, not something you just yell out." Laxus said.  
"Well I don't know about girl stuff."  
"Knowing how to tell whether or not a girl is pissed is a guy thing. And you just got every girl in Fairy Tail mad, except maybe Wendy."

They all looked around and was the girls steering daggers at them.  
"Oh, crap. They are mad." Gray said.  
"Oh you think." Natsu said.  
"We should probably run." Jet said  
"We should defiantly run." Droy said. The guys all turned and ran from the reptile room ducking and weaving through the footwear that was being aimed at their heads.

Almost an hour and half later the girls were walking back to Fairy Tail. The guys were in the cars driving next to them, the ones who won't in the driver's seat were sitting on the doors themselves hanging out of the cars pleading with the girls.  
"Tell us what we did wrong." Gajeel said leaning out of his jeep driving next to Levy. No one answered him.  
"You can't walk all the way back. If you want we'll give you the cars and we'll walk back." Natsu said. He was in the back of Gray's truck hanging over the side next to Lucy.  
"Are you going to give us the silent treatment forever?" Gray said. Again no answers. Since they driving so slow there was line of cars behind them honking loudly. Gajeel finally snapped and let go of the wheel and turned around. Alzack was shotgun and grabbed the wheel.

"HEY! STOP HONKING YOUR FREAKING HORNS!" He yelled at the cars behind them. "WE CAN HEAR YOU! BUT WE HAVE A BUNCH OF PMS-ING GIRLS HER–" he was hit in the back of the head by five different shoes.  
"Oie! What the heck?" He turned back at started yelling at the girls. "What the hell is wrong with you? I was driving, I could have run off the road!"  
"You won't driving. You let go of the wheel, if it wasn't for Alzack you would have run off the road! And you just don't yell stuff like that in public! Or at any other time!" Levy yelled at him.

"Stuff like what?" He asked confused. Every girl face palmed themselves.  
"Erza you are so lucky to have Jellal." Mira told the red head.  
"Seriously…what did we do?" Jet asked  
" What ever it is we'll make up to you." Fried said.

"Like hell you will." Mira said.  
"But what did we do?"

The girls all sighed again, but this time it was because they saw the fairy Tail turn off. They were all looking forward to locking themselves in their rooms and have a round of serious boy bashing. The boys drove ahead hoping to cut the girls off at the door, but all the vehicles stopped half way down the sand road.

"Guys, what's the deal. Move the cars." Lucy said. She now noticed that they all had gotten out and were looking at something. The girls looked up and gasped.

On the front of the building someone had painted a huge Fairy Tail symbol, except they had profaned it in a way that would be too horrible to record here. Above the image were the words

'_How do you like us now,  
Fairy Bums?'_

"That barstard is going down." Natsu said gritting his teeth.  
"He'll be six feet under when we're thought with him." Erza said.  
"Six feet? He'll be praying for something so sweet." Lucy said. "No one does this to Fairy Tail."

* * *

I know a bunch of you were looking forward the prank war, and I promise it will be in the next chapter.

Nardragon~ until the page.


	9. Chapter 9

And the first wave of the war truly begins.

* * *

Sage came down for breakfast with some of his friends. The first thing he noticed was the light was different. He turned to the glass doors at the back and realized they were covered in paint. Sage dashed outside, the other boys behind him. Sage faced the back of the house and swore.

The back of his house was repainted. There were words painted at the top

_We still hate you.  
And this is how you draw our symbol._

Below the words was a huge red Fairy Tail symbol and below that were arrows that pointed to the sides of the house.  
"What's up with the arrows?" One of the boys asked. Sage swore again and ran to the side of the house. On the side walls there were chibi paintings of the Fairy Tail gang (Done by Reedus). And the at the front of the house as well.

"Alright, they want to play hard ball. We'll play hard ball. Mitch, Harris go into town and see if you can get some cement mix."  
"Cement mix? Why?" Harris asked.  
"You'll find out tonight." Sage said.

The next morning at Fairy Tail they were having French toast.  
"Weird we haven't heard from that little punk yet." Natsu said with a yawn.  
"We'll hear from him soon enough." Gray said. He jumped off his chair and slapped Natsu on the back.  
"Now come on, we still have some of that paint to wash off."  
"I'm coming. I'm coming. Even if I didn't get a proper sleep during the day yesterday because we were trying to scrub that thing off. And we up all the night before painting at Sage's."  
"You won't complaining at Sage's."  
"Cause I didn't have anything to complain about at Sage's. That I was happy to do."

"You may not have slept in the day, but you snored last night. And you were the one who volunteered to wash off the paint."  
"No I volunteered that the girl's _shouldn't _have to do it. There is a deference."  
"Sounds the same to me. If you don't want some else to do it then you should do it yourself."

They kept bickering back and forth until they went outside and Gray screamed. Plates and mugs were shoved aside as everyone jumped over furniture and each other to get to the front door. There was a bottle neck at the door that resulted in a lot of shoving, pushing, elbows in faces, foots on toes and general melee. When they did manage to get outside Gray's cry wasn't the only one. Gajeel's cry joined the fray, followed by Laxus and Max then others.

Oddly enough the only ones crying and shouting were boys. And the reason why? Because around the tyres of each car in the Fairy Tail driveway, was a load of cement.  
"They can't do this!" Gajeel yelled. He was trying to kick away the cement from his tyres without any success.  
"Evidently, they can." Erza said.  
"Man, if they scratched my rims, I'll kill them." Laxus said.  
"So Sage cheated on one of your best friends and you just give him a warning. He scrapes your rims and you kill the guy. Nice to know where your priorities are." Cana said.

"Let's go back inside. Something tells me the guys are going to take point with the next phase." Levy said. The girls went back inside followed by Romeo and (to Lucy's surprise) Natsu.  
"Aren't you going to help the guys come up with their revenge?" She asked.  
"Eh, I'm not much of a car guy. I didn't think this prank was any good, I don't get it. Concert around the wheels, so we can't drive, big deal. Everything is pretty much in walking distance."  
"Isn't a guy's pride his car?" Lucy asked. Natsu shrugged.  
"I don't know. Maybe other guys. Not me, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to manage a car for long periods."

"You did find out ginger works for you." Lucy said.  
"Yeah, I guess, but it's not like I can eat ginger all the time."  
"No, I guess not."  
"I'm sure I'll have to help them later anyway. I'll probably be roped into the grunt work but they can come up with the details. I came here to enjoy the sun and surf, not a prank war. I plan to use any free time I can get."  
"I'm sorry." Lucy said softly looking at her feet.  
"It's not your fault. Besides, I didn't mean it like that." Natsu said quickly. "It was fun painting Sage's house. And seeing him run out when we sent him those skunks. I'm just saying we have to do other stuff too. Let's go outside, hit the beach." He said taking her hand.

Natsu when out for a swim while Lucy helped Wendy and Romeo with their sand castle. The two were trying to build a sand castle as large as possible. Everyday they had added a part to it. Now it was almost as tall as Wendy.  
"You guys sure are working hard on this." Lucy said helping to smoothen the sand at the top.  
"We want something that will really make this summer special." Wendy said happily.  
"It's going to look so cool when it's finished." Romeo said.

"Hey check that out." Laki said from the patio. She was pointing up the beach were there seemed to be a small wall of sand.  
"What is that?" Erza asked, putting her hand over her eyes to block the sun.  
"It looks like…ATVs." Levy said.  
"That's a whole lot of ATVs." Lisanna said. "Who are those guys?"

The ATVs were roaring down the beach now. They could see that there ten of the vehicles. The riders were all wearing goggles. They raced by throwing sand into the air. Everyone covered their eyes and started coughing.  
The ATV's turned around and raced back at them, right at them. Lucy pushed Wendy and Romeo out of the way just in time before one of the ATV's smashed into the sand castle. It was levelled. Erza, Levy and Cana ran out to help the three of them.

"Who do they think they are?" Romeo said jumping to his feet. Natsu had saw what happened and raced towards them.  
"Are you okay?" Natsu asked helping Lucy up.  
"Yeah."

The ATV's were circling them now. Natsu pushed Romeo behind him. Erza did the same with Wendy. One of the ATVs stopped in front of Lucy. The rider pulled off his goggles.

"I hoped I didn't hurt you. That horrid sand castlewas just so ugly that I was blinded for a moment." Sage said with a nonchalant grin.  
"Ugly! I'll pound you so badly that when you look in the mirror you'll wish looked ugly!" Romeo ran forward but Natsu held him back.  
"What are you talking about?" Natsu said. "He already does that when he looks in the mirror."  
"I believe you are mixing me up with yourself Natsu." Sage said. "I'm not sure how anyone, even someone as stupid as you, could make such a mistake though."

Natsu growled but still held Romeo back.  
"Lucy, do you like our rides. Father sent them as a gift. He sent one for you as well. If you came over I'll happily teach you how to ride."  
"One, I don't need to be taught how to ride an ATV. Two, even if I did you are the last person I'll ask. Three, get off our beach."

"This is a public beach."  
"That's where you are wrong." Laxus said. he and the other boys were standing on the patio. "You see my grandfather owns the land from the water's edge to the road. And I seem to recall telling you not to come around here anymore."

Sage frowned. "Let's go guys." He said quickly.  
"Not so tuff now that all of us are here?" Gajeel called.  
"How's your cars?" Sage shot back. Every guy who owned a car raced towards Sage. He started his ATV and raced up the beach so fast he was a blur.

"Little scaredy cat." Gray said. "We'll get him back tonight."  
"You all thought of something." Mira asked.  
"Oh yeah, going to make him wished he never touched our rides." Laxus said. Wendy and Romeo were looking at used to be their sand castle.  
"Don't worroy we'll help you rebuild it. It will be even better." Erza said placing her hands on their shoulders."  
"We can rebuild it after I make Sage pay. I'm helping you with the next prank. What are we doing?" Romeo said. The boys smiled at him.

The next morning Sage was eating cornflakes when Harris ran in panting. "Our tyres are gone!" He yelled. Sage spat out his cornflakes.  
"What!" He ran outside and found all the cars and ATVs on cinder blocks.  
"Fairy Tail!" he stormed up the beach. They saw him coming and came out the meet him. They were smiling.

"Where are my wheels!?" He yelled at them.  
"Wheels? We don't know what you are taking about." Natsu said with a shrug.  
"My tyres! Where are they! Tell me! Tell me now!"  
"I haven't seen any tyres." Romeo said. "You look under any sand castles."  
"You little…" Sage walked towards Romeo but Natsu stood in his way.  
"You know I think I remember seeing some tyres around somewhere." Gajeel said casually.  
"Now that I think about it I think I saw some too." Gray said rubbing his chin in mock thought.

"If you don't tell me what you did I swear…" He started.  
"You swear what?" Natsu asked him. "What Sage? What are you going to do that is so horrible to us?" his voice was dangerously low.  
"I'm not scared of you."  
"You should be…"  
"I remember now. I saw some when I went swimming. I think there are a whole line of tyres tied out to one of the buoys." Gray said.  
"You didn't."  
"We didn't do anything." Laxus said with a grin.  
"Like I said I may have seen some when swimming."

"How did you even get them all the way out a buoy?" Sage asked.  
"We didn't tie them to a buoy." Gajeel said. "But if did, we have we might have asked a national champion level swimmer…like I don't know…Juvia to get it out there for us."  
"I'll get you back for this." Sage said.  
"Next time you know not to mess with a guys car. Oh and before I forget. I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the family. Meet Mavis." Laxus said holding out the snake they had kept. It hissed at Sage. Sage frowned at them and turned away yelling at two of the guys who came with him to go get some jet skis rented.

As soon as he was gone everyone started laughing.  
"The look on his face was priceless." Lucy said.  
"Coming up with idea to jack their tyres. Very cool Gajeel." Max said. The two fist bummed.  
"And then having Juvia swim out and tie it to a buoy. When we told him that, he looked like was ready to blow." Cana.  
"You did a really good job with the tyres Juvia." Gray told her. She blushed up to her ears.  
"Th-Thank you Gray." She said.  
"He'll be back." Lucy said.  
"And we'll be ready. Although he'll have a hard time topping this." Natsu said.

As it turned Sage was back a little sooner than expected. It was just after sun set when they heard the sounds of engines racing up the beach.  
"He's back already." Natsu said leaping up. He jumped over the sofa and pool table running outside. Erza grabbed one of the pool cues and was outside next. Gray and Gajeel were out next with everybody else right behind. They stormed out onto the patio just as Sage and his gang were on them.

They all realized something was off. There were two boys on each ATV. The one's not driving were holding something.  
"Eat this Fairy bums!" Sage yelled and high paced thuds filled the air. Lucy felt a sting on her leg and Natsu jumped in front of her. She looked down and saw blue on her leg. She ran her finger over the spot and realised it was paint. They had paint guns.

"Retreat!" Erza yelled. Natsu grabbed Lucy and pushed her back inside. He grabbed a door and waited until everyone was in then he slid his door closed. Gray did the same from the over side. Thought the glass they saw Sage and his gangs cheering.  
"See you later Fairy bums!" he yelled at them before riding off.

Now that it had settled down Lucy could see that everyone was covered in paint to some degree. Some more than others. Persons like Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Elfman, Fried and Alzack, were covered in paint. Others like Levy, Mira, Juvia, Lisanna, Wendy, Evergreen, Bisca and herself won't so bad. The others were in between.  
"Okay, he might have actually won that round." Erza said wiping paint from her face.

When they had all had showers it became clear just how bad it had been. There was a reason you wear body protectors when playing paintball. Getting hit by a paintball could hurt…a lot…and leave some nasty bruising.

That is exactly what happened to them. By the time they went to bed every icepack, cold compress and pack of frozen peas and carrots had been handed out.

Lucy found she couldn't sleep. She glanced at her cell phone and saw it was close to 1am. She knew why she couldn't sleep. All of her friends had gotten hurt because of her. The pranks before this hadn't really hurt anyone. But this…

She couldn't let it continue. She couldn't let them get hurt like this again. She picked up her phone and sent a text.

_Need to talk. Meet me outside in ten minutes._

She quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the door. She knew if Levy and Erza woke up she would have to explain where she was going and they would never let her go. She winced when the door creaked. She look towards the beds and saw Erza sift muttering something. Lucy held her breath.

"Jellal…" She said and turned over. Lucy let out breath and smiled slightly at the red head's word. Slipping out the room she quickly made her way downstairs. She had just walked out onto the patio when –

"Lucy?"  
She jumped out of her sink and turned around. Sitting next to the fire pit was Natsu.  
"God, Natsu. You scared me half to death." She placed a hand to her chest sighing.  
"I'm sorry,"  
"It's okay. What are you doing up?"  
"I could ask you the same thing,"  
"I asked you first," Lucy with a smile.  
"The guys are staying up in shifts so Sage can't get the drop on us again. Gray is at the front of the house." Natsu said.  
"Aren't you cold out here?"  
"Nah, I never get cold. And even if I did I have the pit and a blanket. But you still haven't answered why you are here."  
"Oh, well I just wanted some fresh air. I was thinking about going for a quick walk." Lucy hoped her smile looked sincere.  
"Okay, I'll come with you." Natsu made to stand but Lucy stopped him.  
"No! I…uhh…mean, you shouldn't leave your post…encase something happens. I'll be fine. I won't go far." Lucy said walking onto the beach.  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah, I'll see you in a little bit." She hurried away. She was thankful to see he wasn't following her. The last thing she needed was Natsu around for this. It wasn't long before she saw him. He was sitting on slab of rock that had been smoothened by the waves.

"I have to say I wasn't surprised when I got your text. Finally decide you are going to leave those Fairy bums?" Sage grinned at her.

* * *

You are going to hate me for the cliff hanger, aren't you? Yeah...yeah you are. Next chapter will make up for it big time.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	10. Chapter 10

This story is already rated T and this chapter pushes those boundaries, not much...but just enough.

I'll bet you'll be cursing Sage in the first part of this chapter and for the second...you'll have a huge grin on your faces.

* * *

Lucy frowned.  
"Come on babe, don't have such a sad look. You know, most guys wouldn't want to take you back after all those pranks you and your friends played on us. But then again, I'm not most guys."  
"No, you are not. Most guys won't cheat on their girlfriends twice."  
"Babe, the first time was not my doing and there was no second time."  
"I told you before, save if for someone who cares. I didn't come here to discuss our relationship."

"Alright, why did you come here?" Sage said standing up.  
"I want you to leave my friends alone. This is between you and me. No one else."  
"Won't _your_ friends the ones who started this whole thing. Remember, Natsu came to my house and attacked me."  
"And your friends attacked him. Then you sent those snakes to us."  
"You didn't seem to mind that. Kept 'em as pets."

Lucy smiled at that but then swallowed becoming serious. "It doesn't matter who started it. I'm ending it. I want you leave them alone."  
"Why do you like those bums so much."  
"It's none of your business."  
"Do you like one of the guys?"  
"I say it's none of your business!"  
Sage grinned. "You do like one of the boys. Who is it?"  
"I didn't come here to talk about this."  
"Is it Laxus? Or maybe Gray?"  
"Yeah right." Lucy rolled her eye. "Enough of this."  
"Is it Natsu?" Lucy stiffen. "It is Natsu."  
"It's none of your business why I stay with Fairy Tail. I just want you to leave them alone." Lucy snapped. Sage held up his hands in defense and took a step towards her.

"And…what would I get in return for leaving them alone." Said Sage. Lucy sighed knowing this was coming.  
"What would you have me do?"  
"I think you know what I want." He placed his hand on her waist. She slapped it away and retreated a few steps.  
"You know I'm not going to do that." Lucy said sharply.  
"But Lu, don't you want to protect your friends…" Sage said dangerously. "I mean, it would be a shame if something were to happen –"  
"The boys would never let you touch –"  
"The boys can't be around you forever. I would hate something to happen… if you and your friends all alone. If we were still dating me and my guys would happily come protect you any time."  
"We both know you don't want to date."

Sage laughed and placed his hands on Lucy's waist. She tried to push him off but her held on tight.  
"If you want that kind of relationship I won't complain." He said simply. Lucy slapped him causing him to let go and stumble a few steps back. He put his hand to his face, his lip was bleeding.

"You little bitch." He swung his hand catching her along the jaw with a backhand that sent her to the sand. Before she could blink the spots out of her eyes she felt a weight on top of her. She shook her head and tried to push Sage off her. He grabbed her hands and held her down.

"You could end this silly fight right now. You might even find you'll like it." Sage grinned at her. She squirmed under him but he was too big and too strong.  
"Sage let me go."  
"Why? You said you want to talk."  
"You don't have talking on your mind."  
"I never understood girl's obsession with talking. That's for business deals. In a relation it's a waste of time that could be put towards _other _pursuits." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She twisted her head and tired again to break free of him.  
"Let me go. Now."  
"I don't think so. I'll make you a deal. One night with me and I'll leave your friends alone for the summer. Of course after a night with me you might want to leave your friends too."

"I'm not going to do that."  
Sage shifted his gripped on her hands so he had both pinned over her head by one hand. With his free hand he held her jaw. "You sound like you have a choice." He grinned at her and leaned down again kissing her neck.  
"Get off me!" She squirmed against him. "Sage you won't do this. You can't do this!" She tried to pull away from him but her wouldn't let her. Her mind was racing. She couldn't let him do this.  
"STOP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"  
"Crying for help, not very attractive."

Tears were leaking from the corner of her eyes. A cry ripped from her throat. "NATSU!" She wasn't sure why she called him. He was too far way to hear her. But his name still escaped her mouth. Sage pulled back and looked her.  
"Well that's the first time a girl I was with called out another guy's name. Don't worry you'll be singing another tune once I'm through. His hand found the first button on her shirt. She tried to bite him but he only laughed.  
"I like feisty." He said undoing the next two buttons quickly.  
"Please, stop." She cried.

It happened so fast Lucy missed it. All she knew that Sage's weight was gone. Sage didn't even know he had been knocked off Lucy until his face hit the sand. He wasn't even up properly when a fist smashed into his face. He was knocked clean off his feet. Another fist crashed into his jaw and he swore his teeth rattled. A hand grabbed his shirt and lifted him to his feet. He had one second to make out Natsu's face before a fist smashed into his nose. His eyes waters and he covered his face with hands. He knew his nose was bleeding.

"How dear you touch her?!" Natsu screamed at him. He brought his foot up, lashing out. It collided into his gut. Sage fell in knees. He searched the sand around him quickly grabbing the first thing he could.  
He brought up a large rock and flung it at Natsu. The rock hit his shoulder, splitting the skin. Natsu stumbled back.

Sage leapt to his feet with tackled Natsu pinning him to the ground. Sage delivered an elbow strike that probably would have knocked anyone else out. But Natsu had too much adrenaline in his system. He kicked Sage off him, his knee smashing into the boy's nose. He knew he had broken it. He jumped up and was about to punch him again.

"I give! I give!" He cried holding his hands up in surrender. Natsu was seeing red. He was ready to rip Sage apart but there was something more important he had to take care off right now. He grabbed Sage by the hair, bring him close.  
"If you ever touch her again I'll rip your arms off." He snarled and threw Sage in the sand. The boy scrambled to his feet running off as fast as he could.

Still breathing heavy Natsu turned around his eyes searching for Lucy. He found her sitting on the sand not far way. He ran over and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back, holding him tightly. She was shaking slightly.  
"Did he hurt you?" Natsu asked. She shook her head. He pulled back looking her over as if making sure for himself. He gently re-buttoned the top three buttons Sage had undone. "Are you sure?" He asked holding the side of her face.  
"Y-yes. He hit me, but it's not that bad. I'm just glad you came when you did."

He pulled her back into a hug. "Don't scare me like that again. Not ever. What were you thinking, coming here alone?"  
"I was trying to make him stop. I didn't want you all to get hurt because of me anymore." She said softly.  
"Lucy, you are the bravest, kindest person I know." Natsu said with a smiled. "Let's go home." He lifted her up gently. She didn't complain that he was carrying her. She tucked her head against his neck enjoying his warmth.

When they walked into Fairy Tail he gently placed her down. "Are you sure you're okay?" Natsu asked.  
"I'm fine. You, on the other hand, aren't." for the first time she noticed the severity of the cut on his left shoulder. The rock had left a gash up his shoulder. "We have to clean that." She pulled him into the kitchen and made him sit on a chair. Even without turning on the lights she found the first aid kit with the moon light coming from the glass doors and walls (even if there wasn't any moon light everyone in Fairy Tail could find the first aid kits with a blind fold on). She sat down in front of him and pressed a clean cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol to the wound. Natsu winced.

"I'm sorry. Does it hurt?"  
"Not that much." He said. She cleaned the cut then took out a length of bandages from the kit.  
"It's not that bad."  
"If we don't cover it up you'll bleed all night." She pulled her chair closer to his and gently lifted his hand. Natsu watched her steadily while she wrapped the bandages.  
"Natsu…how did you know I was in trouble?" Lucy asked suddenly.  
"I don't know. Something just told me to go after you."  
Lucy smiled at his comment and said, "Something told you. You always seem to know when I need you." She tied off his bandage.  
"I'll always be there for you Lucy. No matter what happens."

Lucy looked up at him. He held her gaze. There were only inches between them. Lucy leaned back blushing. She started jamming things randomly into the first aid kit. Natsu placed his hand over hers without a word. She looked back at him. Her heart started pounding when she realized he was leaning towards her. He stopped less than an inch from her, their noses just barely brushing. She looked into his eyes. She leaned forward and their lips meet.

It a soft kiss but seemed to last forever and at the same time ended all too soon. When they pulled away neither said anything. They just looked at each other. Then as if a silent signal have gone off they both got up and closed the distance between them. Natsu had gotten up so fast his chair toppled over.

The chastity of the first kiss was gone. This one was faster, filled with a hunger. They walked back until her back hit the walk and Natsu pinned her there. He held her hands against the wall, weaving their fingers together. She moaned into the kiss and he responded with a deep growl.

He broke the kiss to trail down her jaw and neck. Lucy bit her lip trying to bite down the moan that threatened to escape. Natsu's hands slid down the curve of her body coming to rest at her waist as he found her lips again. Her hands circled his neck pulling herself as close as possible to him.

She gasped when she felt the warmth of Natsu's hand against her skin when his hands slid under her shirt pressing against her back.  
"Natsu…" She said, but it was lost in the kiss.

"Whoa!"

Natsu and Lucy jumped apart and saw Gray standing in the threshold between the common room and kitchen. He grinned at them.  
"Thought I heard some noises, I'll just go outside. You two can carry on." He walked out of view. Lucy and Natsu looked at each other. They were both out of breath and very red in the face. They laughed a little bit.  
"Stupid Gray…" Natsu muttered under her breath. "I'll kill him in the morning. You should probably go to bed."  
Lucy nodded noticing for the first time how tired she was. She hadn't slept at all that night and now it was 1:45am.  
"Come on, I'll walk you upstairs." He said. They walked in silence. Lucy was still flushed and didn't help that Natsu was right behind her. Every second that passed sent a new surge of red to her face. They stopped outside her room. Natsu poked at carpet.  
"Am, what does this mean for…us?" He said quietly. Lucy looked at him and smiled.  
Talking softly she said, "I'm pretty sure you know what this means," She kissed him lightly. "But we'll talk in the morning." He grinned and nodded stealing one more kiss before heading back downstairs.

She slipped into her room and closed the door quietly. She leaned against the door and slid down the floor a huge grin breaking out on her face. Her heart was still racing. She closed her eyes tilting her head back. She tried to remember every moment of the kiss, wanting to preserve the memory forever. She had never had a kiss like that before. Just thinking about it sent jolts through her body. She bit her lip to stop from yelling in joy.

She had kissed Natsu. Natsu! And it felt so….right. So unbelievably perfect. She was lightheaded and room seemed to be swaying slightly. How could she be lightheaded if so much blood was rushing to her head…or maybe the blood was just going to her cheeks?

She shook her head trying to clear it. Getting up quietly she walked over to her bed. Erza and Levy were still sleeping. She could tell them in the morning. Hopefully by then she would be able to think about the kiss without grinning like a fool, going lightheaded and red in the face. Oh, there she went again. The smile was back on her face and she was blushing…and…yes, lightheaded too.

She crawled under the covers trying to calm down but her heart still raced. She curled up with her dragon smiling. She took some deep breaths and her heart rate slowed somewhat but was still hammering in her chest. The last thought she had before falling asleep was about the kiss.

* * *

Did I win the bet?

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	11. Chapter 11

I seriously don't get how the favorites and follows for this story keeps growing. Both my Fairy Tail stories crush anything else I've written in this regard. I have to thank you guys so much. And to thank you I'm working on a chapter that will be 100% Natsu and Lucy orientated (if that's what you guys want). But for now we get back to Fairy Tail's plans for revenge.

* * *

Lucy woke up when she felt her bed shift. She cracked opened an eye and saw Levy sitting on the bed next to her and Erza, Mira and Cana were standing over them.  
"What?" She asked, sleep causing her voice to crack.  
"Gray told us something very interesting." Cana said a mischievous glint in her eyes.  
"Gray says a lot of things. What does that have to do with me?"  
"You were busy last night. We want to know exactly what happened." Levy said grinning.  
"Which part, a lot happened." Lucy sat up rubbing her eyes.

"The part about you and Natsu, did you really…"  
"Yep."  
Levy and Mira squealed while Cana hit Lucy on the back.  
"It's about time." Erza said. "Although we do know what else happened last night."  
"You do?" Lucy asked.  
"Natsu told us." Cana said.  
"Sage is lucky we didn't strom is house." Said Erza

Levy rubbed a hand down her face. "How many times do I have to tell?"  
"I only went to try and make him stop. That paintball stunt left everyone hurt. I can't ask you all to get hurt for me." Lucy said.  
"Lucy you never asked us," Erza said.  
"And you never have to." Cana said.  
"We all want to get Sage for what he did to you." Mira said.  
"But-" Levy cut her off but raising her hand.  
"You should come downstairs, there is something you have to see." Levy said standing up. She held out her hand for Lucy. The blonde took it and followed the others downstairs a little confused. When they reached the common room her jaw dropped.

The room was a flurry of action. Persons were running around with bags and boxes. She noticed Hibiki and Eve sitting on the sofa with a few laptops. Hibiki's fingers were flying over the keys. Every time he spoke Eve wrote something down. Natsu and Gajeel were outside on the patio arguing. They had shovels in their hands for some reason were covered in sand.

Jellal walked over to them with a box in his hands. "Hey Erza, I got the things you asked for except for the dry ice, but I don't understand why you need this stuff. Paint, plastic bottles and bags?"  
"Paint bombs." She said matter of factly. Erza took the box from him and caught Reedus as he ran past "This is what you need, right? We don't have the dry ice yet thought."  
"Oui, I'll get started right now. The ice can come last. I wouldn't need it until the right before."  
"Okay, I'll ask someone to get working on the ice." Erza said.

Lucy looked from Erza and Levy with an open mouth. They grinned at her.  
"Morning Lucy!" Natsu said walking inside.  
"What's going on here?" She asked.  
"Revenge, Fairy Tail style." He said with a grin. He kissed her on the top of her head.  
"With some help from our allies." Levy said indicating to Hibiki and Eve.

"Gray," Erza called when he walked past carrying pieces of wood. "We need some dry ice. Know where we might get some?"  
"I'll make some calls." He said walking out back door (or I should say wall since the entire back wall that once again been pushed aside).

"When did you…how did you…what the hell?"  
Natsu chuckled and put his hand around her shoulders. "After that paintball disgrace and that stunt he pulled with you last night we decided it's time we turned it up a notch. No more are we going to wait for him to respond before we launch an attack."  
"But what's going on…it looks like a command centre in here."  
"Well, we have several things going on at once..."Natsu was cut off by a cry from Hibiki.

"Yes!"  
"What do you got Hibiki?" Cana asked.  
"I hacked into the wireless at Sage's house."  
"And what's the big deal about that." Gajeel asked.  
"The big deal is I now have access to every computer, tablet and smart phone that used his internet connection." Hibiki said. "In a few moments I'll know everything about Sage and his friends." Hibiki's fingers moved so fast over the keypad they were almost blurs.  
"Nice work, it almost makes up for the fact you can be a complete pervert." Cana said.  
"Thanks…I think."

"Natsu why are you covered in sand?" Lucy asked unable to ignore it any more.  
"Gajeel and I build a pit trap outside Sage's place." He said with a grin. "Those guys take one step off their patio and they'll fall into a twenty feet hole."  
"Natsu, you should go upstairs and shower, you're trailing sand everywhere." Erza said.  
"Why go upstairs? There's a whole ocean outside the door. Come on Luce," Natsu grabbed Lucy's hands pulling her behind him.  
"Natsu, wait…not so fast…"

"Those two are cute together." Mira said smiling as they watched the two run down the beach.  
"Natsu will be good to her. Way better than Sage. Then again anyone would be better that Sage." Levy said.

"Erza, what did you mean by paint bombs?" Jellal asked.  
"What else could I mean? Paint bombs…really can't get much simpler than that."  
"Paint bombs…as in bombs made from paint?"  
"Yeah, that's what paint bomb means,"  
"Why?"  
"Sage attacked us with guns filled of paint. You know we always go bigger and better."  
"This is escalating from your run of the mill prank war,"  
"I don't think it was ever your run of the mill prank war."  
Jellal smiled and kissed Erza on her cheek. "Nothing is run of the mill with you involved." Erza blushed and shoved Mira away when she started awwing.

Outside Natsu and Lucy were in the water swimming slowly.  
"Natsu, I didn't thank you for last night."  
Natsu slipped his hands around her waist. "You don't have to thank me." They stopped moving and stood up. The water was just reaching past their stomachs. Natsu pressed his forehead to hers. "I'll protect you, always."  
"If I hadn't gone there in the first place…" Natsu cut her off by placing a finger over her lips.  
"Stop blaming yourself. It seems to me that all you've done since we got here was worry about something to do with Sage."  
Lucy gave him a small smile. "Well, that's not _all _I've done." She kissed him lightly. He smiled and held her closer his hands wrapping around her waist under the water. He gently brushed his lips against hers, playfully nibbling on her bottom lip. She grinned at the gesture pressing nearer to him, resting her hands against his chest. She deepened the kiss, locking their lips together. She felt Natsu's tongue gently slid against her lip and she opened her mouth slightly.

She stomach was doing flips and her toes curled. She moved her hands up his chest, wrapping them around his shoulder and curling one of her hands into his hair as their lips moved together. His hand moved against the curve of her spine sending shivers running through her body. Every touch, every movement made her weak and sent a jolt of pleasure surging though her very core. She pulled back from the kiss and Natsu frowned.

"Why'd you stop?" He asked pouting. Lucy laughed at his expression. He looked like a child that had his favourite toy taken away. She kissed him playfully on the nose before pulling out of his arms and swimming back.  
"You want me, you'll have to catch me." She said. Natsu raced after her. At first he tried running after her but the water slowed him down. Once he started to swim the game of over. He caught up to her with a few powerful strokes. He grabbed her from behind pinning her arms to her sides.  
"Caught you." He whispered in her ear. His voice made her breath catch. He kissed the nape of her neck.

Lucy bent her head back resting it against his shoulder.  
"Natsu, can I ask you something?"  
"Of course,"  
"I was wondering…"

A whistle made them both turn to shore. Erza waved to them signaling to come. Natsu turned back to Lucy. "You were saying?"  
"It can wait. Let's go see what they want." He walked back to Fairy Tail their fingers woven together.

"Where's the fire? We were kinda busy." Natsu said walking into the common room.  
"Sure you were." Gajeel said with an eye roll. "While you were busy exchanging saliva we doing actual work in here."  
"What work did you do? Hibiki did all the work." Levy said.  
"Hey, I dug a pit this morning,"  
"So did Natsu,"  
"Why are you defending him anyway?"  
"I'm not defending him. I'm reprimanding you,"  
"I think you're just jealous you don't have someone to make out with."  
Levy opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. She turned away blushing. Gajeel was a little confused by her reaction . He looked at her with a frown. "Levy…"

"Please, work out your issues later." Laxus said.  
"We don't have issues!" They yelled at the same time. Several persons chuckled as this.  
"Just tell 'em what we found." Gajeel said folding his hands.  
"It looks like Sage is going down to the haunted house today." Said Erza, "A couple of the girls from Mermaid Heel work there and we called in a couple favors. What do say to giving Sage a scare he'll remember?" She addressed the last part to Lucy. Lucy grinned.  
"I say when can we leave."

* * *

I always give credit were credit is due and I would like to thank ladyAlyafaelyn for supplying the idea for using Hibiki and his hacking skills.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	12. Chapter 12

Okay, I'm a little late with this chapter but it is a bit on the long-ish side so i hope that makes up for it (Although I'm sure the content is make up for sure).

* * *

"Erza!" Millianna launched herself at Erza the second she saw the girl.  
"It's good to see you." Erza said smiling.  
"We were a little surprised to get your call." Kagura said walking up. She folded her arms looking at them.  
"We know it's a little last minute, but we really want to get this creep." Natsu said.  
"We heard the story. A prank war, huh? Well we may not be the best of friends but I hope you make this guy suffer." Kagura said with a smile. "If it's one thing I understand it's the need for revenge. We'll let you run the haunted house for the night. Come on, we'll show you how everything works." The haunted house was part of the carnival. It was near the far end of the carnival grounds at the back.

The Mermaid Heel girls had agreed to let them help run the haunted house so they would have a prime position to extract their revenge, in return they and were getting the night off. Kagura showed them around the house, explaining how everything worked and revealing the secret hiding spots. They finished the tour outside the building at the back.  
"I think this will be the perfect place to use our bombs." Laxus said.  
"Bombs?" Kagura and Millianna asked in shock.  
"It's only paint bombs, talking about the bombs Gray did you get the dry ice."  
"Lyon is bringing it. He should be here soon."

"What exactly are you planning to do to this guy?" Kagura asked.  
"The less you know the less the cops will be able to pin on you." Cana said. The Mermaid Heel girls shared a terrified look.  
"I'm joking." Cana laughed. She threw her arms around Kagura's and Millianna's necks.  
"Is she buzzed?" Kagura asked.  
"The better question is she ever sober." Lucy said.  
"Don't worry, we not going to do anything too drastic to him." Levy said.  
"Well, we showed you how everything works. You have the run of the place, we are going to enjoy our night off." Kagura said. "Try not to completely destroy the place."

"Alright, in order to pull this off we have to keep the haunted house running like normal until Sage and his friends show up. Listen up for your assignments." Erza said holding up a piece of paper. "Max, Vijeeter, Nab and Warren, you are in the first hallway, which means you get to put on the costumes and jump out at people." Mira pulled out some rope from a bag, "And you know what to do with that."  
"Jump scaring people, should be fun." Max said taking the rope.  
"Bisca, Alzack, Elfman and Evergreen you are in mist maze. You basically make sure people head in the right direction and you get to use these on Sage." Erza said, indicating to the sling shots in Mira's hands with last part. Bisca and Alzack took the sling shots eagerly.  
"We get to shoot stuff?" Alzack tested the sling shot.  
"Oh this will be fun." Bisca said with an evil smile.  
"Shooting your enemies is manly!" Elfman said.  
"What is it with you and being manly?!" Evergreen asked.

"Gajeel, Levy, you two are in the bat hallway. You have to work controls to make fake bats fall on people when they are walking through, plus you get drop Ichiya's gift on Sage." Levy took a metal canister from Mira.  
"It works like a smoke bomb, pull the pin and drop it…and hold your breath." Mira said adding the last part as an afterthought.  
"Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Juvia will work with Reedus to set off the paint bombs at the end." While Erza continued to talk Lucy shifted closer to Levy and whispered to her, "Is it me or is something weird about our groups?"  
Lisanna over heard and answered, "I think sis made the groups,"  
"That would explain it." Levy said. Just then Erza said "Mira and Fried are working in the electrical booth controlling the sound system and lights."

Lucy and Levy looked at each other. "Mira defiantly made this list." They said together.

"Okay, and finally Laki you are at the front booth selling tickets. You will let everyone know when Sage shows up," Erza looked at Warren and he started to hand out walkie talkies. "Let's go everyone. We have a haunted house to run."

As it turned out running the haunted house wasn't that hard and fun as hell. Who knew it was so much fun to scary the shit out of people? One person who was having the time of his life was Gajeel. He and Levy were on a partly concealed walkway above the hallway. They could see when persons walked below them but if anyone body looked up (which they rarely did) they wouldn't see them. The dropped the 'bats' by flipping a lever that made the furry things drop from the bottom of the walkway and once the victim was gone they flipped the lever, bring the bats back up to wait for their next victim.

When a group of girls went screaming from the hallway Gajeel fell over laughing. He was laughing so hard there were tears running down his cheeks. Levy frowned at him. She was enjoying herself but it wasn't _that_ funny. She flipped the lever and the bats were pulled back up. Gajeel was still laughing.

"Get a grip, will you. You might pass out in a minute."  
"D-d-did you hear that one girl scream?" He asked gasping for breath. "Any higher and she could have broken glass." He clutched his side as he started laughing again from the thought. "Oh here comes another set." He grabbed the lever and waited until they were in the prime position. Below them a girl and boy walked forward slowly. "It's only two of them…well it doesn't matter how many." He flipped the lever and the bats dropped.

The girl screamed and pressed her face into the boy's shirt. He had ducked when the bats fell but didn't scream. He put his arm around the girl running a hand though her hair.  
"It's alright, I'm right here." He said.  
"I can't go on Haru. I'm too scared." The girl whimpered.  
"Hey, I'll protect you Elie. Nothing bad will happen to you while I'm here." He said softly. "Come on."  
The girl nodded. The two continued down the hallway, Haru's hands around Elie.

"That wasn't any fun. The girl only screamed once." Gajeel said with a huff.  
"That was so sweet." Levy said.  
"Figures you'll think something like that."  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"You read too many books. You except all that gushy romance stuff to happen in real life."  
"So you don't think some of the stuff in books could happen?"  
Gajeel snorted. "No."  
"You don't like the idea at all."  
"I don't do that love crap."  
"I see." Levy said softly. She turned away from Gajeel leaning against the railing of the walkway.  
"Bookworm?" Gajeel asked. She didn't answer. "Shrimp? Levy…"  
"Another group is coming." She said dryly.

Gajeel pushed the lever but this time he didn't laugh when they screamed and went running.  
"Levy…I'm sorry, I didn't...what I meant…"  
"Pull up the bats another group will be here soon." Levy interrupted him.  
Neither spoke for a while except for the occasional warning of an oncoming group. Gajeel was sitting next to the lever pulling and pushing it but he didn't find the screams of terror so fun anymore. Levy was leaning against the railing her back facing Gajeel. Suddenly she straightened up. Without turning around she said "You can handle things here by yourself, I'm going for some air." Gajeel moved quickly getting up on his knees and grabbed her hand.  
"Wait, if it was what I said…"  
"You said just enough. You made clear your intentions." Levy said stiffly.  
"No, no I didn't. I didn't mean what I said." Said Gajeel. Levy turned around with a fierce look in her eyes. Gajeel actually recoiled.  
"Like hell you didn't! Then why would you say it. Huh?"  
"I-I don't know what to say."  
"You knew just now. You've always done this. You act all macho and gruff and distance. Then I think we're getting closer then you get all distance again. I'm sick and tired of it!" She stomped her feet. "I'm done waiting on you make up your mind!"

She turned and got two steps away before Gajeel grabbed her hand again. "Wait," He said.  
"Why should – mmh!" Levy was cut off by Gajeel's lips pressed against her own. She was so shocked she tried to pull back but Gajeel wasn't having any of it. He had one hand around her waist, the other behind her neck holding her against him. Because he was standing on his knees they were around the same height.

Levy was trying to process what was happening but her brain seemed to have to shut down. Any coherent thought that entered her mind was washed away by the feeling of Gajeel's lips moving against her own. Without really realizing she had brought her hands and rested them against his chest. Beneath her fingers she could feel his heart beat, strong and steady.

Her own heart was beating so fast it was almost a hum. When Gajeel finally pulled back she blinked several times before she could find her voice.  
"But you said…"  
"I say a lot of stupid stuff I don't mean. But this isn't one of those things. I care about you Levy. I would rather cut off my legs than do something to hurt you in any way. I say stupid stuff because I'm afraid I'll say something _really_ stupid when I'm trying to be sincere. And…and...and please stop me cause I suck at this kind of thing."

Levy laughed and threw her arms around his neck. "You've said more than enough. You could have stopped at 'I care about you'."  
"Now you tell me." He said rolling his eyes. She laughed again. Gajeel rocked backwards so he was sitting. Levy gave a yelp as he pulled her into his lap. She blushed deeply because of their postion.  
"Gajeel…"  
"Enough words for a while." He said cupping her chin and pulling her towards him.

Twenty groups passed in the hall way below them without any bats dropping them. Move would have gone by too if their walkie talkie didn't crackle to life. Gajeel grabbed in and spoke gruffly into it.  
"Don't disturb us!"  
"Gajeel!" Levy took it from him and stood up. "What's going on?" She asked.  
"Sage is at the entrance. Repeat, Sage is here." Laki's voice said. "And he has some nasty bruising on his face, nice job Natsu."  
"Thank you," Natsu replied.  
"Alright everyone we are a go." Erza said.

Sage and his friends walked into the dark hallway. They could barely see anything.  
"Talk about lame." Sage said but he jumped when a noise came from his right. He took a few more steps forward when he suddenly fell over, landing face first on the ground.  
"Sage, you okay." Mitch helped him up.  
"Damn it! I tripped over something. Man, as if my ankle isn't messed up enough from that stupid hole this morning."  
"Tripped over what? There isn't anything here."  
"I tripped over something!" Sage snapped. Mitch held his hands up in defense.  
"Alright,"

Sage took two more steps forward and fell over again. "Bloody hell! What the hell is that?" He started searching on the ground. Mitch pulled out his phone and trained the light on the ground. It was solid, smooth hardwood.  
"There was something here. I walked into it!" Sage yelled.  
"Well it's gone now."  
"What kind of stupid haunted house is this anyway?" He and the boys walked into the next room, with Sage taking visibly more careful steps. When they had gone four figures stepped out of the shadows. All four of them had stuffed this fist into their mouths to stop from laughing.

Max was laughing so hard he dropped the length of rope they had used to trip Sage.  
"Man that was classic." He said. Nab and Vijeeter bummed fists. Warren took out his walkie talkie.  
"First phase complete. Their coming your way Alzack, Bisca." He said.

"We see them." Alzack whispered in response. He was hiding in the shadows next to Bisca. "Let's do this." He said to her. She nodded. On the other side of the room Elfman and Evergreen had a similar conversation (although their's also that the word man in it).

The four started firing grapes, small pebbles and wads of wet tissues paper at Sage and his friends. They all cried out and began running through the maze. The four followed them, keeping to the shadows.  
"What the heck is going on here?" On the boys yelled when a grape logged itself into his ear (thanks to Bisca).  
"I don't-_ack-*cough*_" Sage started coughing and hacking when a wad of tissues paper flew into his mouth.  
"Let's get out of here!" Someone else yelled. They ran from the maze. The four friends high fived each other.  
"Nice shooting." Bisca said.  
"You too." Alzack said.  
"Maybe that will teach Sage about being a man." Elfman said. Evergreen sighed at this. Alzack spoke into his walkie talkie. "They are all yours Gajeel, Levy."

Gajeel smiled "Gee-hee, don't we know it." He said into the walkie talkie. He looked over at Levy and nodded. She grinned, pulled the pin from the canister and let it drop. It landed a couple feet in front of Sage's group.  
"What was that?" Harris asked. Someone turned their cell phone light towards it.  
"What is that?" Sage asked. The words were barely out of his mouth when a white smoke started to spew out of the can. With it came Ichiya's signature (and worst smelling) perfume. Above Gajeel and Levy had both covered their noses. Sage and his friends didn't know what hit them.  
"God! That stinks."  
Several of them started coughing. One of the boys even passed out. His friends pulled him along as they ran though the smoke. It was so bad that their eyes were tearing up.  
"I'm going to sue someone!" Sage yelled.

"Sure you will." Gajeel said chuckling. "Wish you guys could have seen that." He said into the walkie talkie before he turned it off.  
"Aren't we going to see the paint bombs with everyone?" Levy asked when she saw him turn it off.  
"In a minute." He pulled her into a kiss.

Sage passed from person each with their own little piece of hell to give. He particularly hated the shock he got when he leaned against the wall in a certain section of the house. He didn't know Laxus was on the other side of the walk with a bunch of cable hooked up to a car battery. When they finally got outside most collapsed to the ground. Sage got to all fours.  
"Never again am I going in that place." He said. As he said the words a Gatorade bottle filled with something pink rolled slowly towards him. He tilted his head as he looked at it. He didn't notice the seven other similar bottles all with other colors roll around him and his friends. He stretched out a hand towards the bottle in front of him. His hand was two inches away when the bottle to his right went off.

He and his friends were covered in blue, right after the red exploded, then black, followed by yellow, green, orange and white. The last one to go off was the pink one covering Sage's face in the paint. He was still in shock from what had happened when he heard the laughter.

Fairy Tail emerged from the shadows laughing so hard they were crying. Max and Warren were on the ground laughing. Cana was doubled over gasping from breath. Gray was holding on to Juvia to keep from falling over. Erza wiped tears away hugging her sides. Laughing the hardest was Lucy. She had almost fallen over but Natsu caught her.

"You did this!" Sage yelled getting to his feet. He spat paint out of his mouth. This caused everyone to laugh harder.  
"I will get you back!" Sage yelled. "You will regret this! You hear me!"  
"It's kinds…*haha*…it's hard to take a threat seriously went coming from someone whose face is pink." Natsu said gasping from breath. Sage started to wipe the paint off but it only mixed with the other colors making interesting patters on his face. Fairy Tail who had just started to calm down burst into another round of laughter.  
"YOU WILL PAY!" Sage yelled and walked off with his gang following. They caused several looks and many pointing hands as they walked through the carnival.

Once they had left everyone in Fairy Tail gave a cheer. They were a lot of hugs, high fives and fist bumps (and even a few kisses) passed around.  
"That will teach him to mess with Fairy Tail. He'll think twice about messing with us now." Natsu said.  
"But I don't think it's over." Lucy said.  
"He can throw whatever he wants at us, we will throw it back tenfold." Natsu said.

* * *

We had a lot of stuff happen this chapter - A Haru and Elie cameo (from Rave Master if you don't know). A big Gajeel/Levy moment, I hoped you like that. And am I forgetting anything...oh yeah, Sage's complete humiliation.

If you have never worked in a haunted house I strongly recommend it. That was with out a doubt one of the times I laughed the most in my life. For a fair at my old school my class had a haunted house. Thinking back on that day I did way more laughing than scaring. Not that is mattered, my friend and I were stationed in the same place and her costume was so scary that most people just glanced at her and started to scream. Me? I stood and laughed, it may sound mean, but hey those people paid to get scared and since it was a school event I was working for free, so yeah I wanted to make sure i got something out of it. Anyway, that influenced my idea for the haunted house in this chapter very strongly.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	13. Chapter 13

This chapter went through several last minute changes so it isn't that long. This doesn't have anything major happen but some craziness happens. And I mean crazy.

* * *

After they had finished working at the haunted house Fairy Tail had a celebration on the beach around a huge bonfire. Perhaps they open one too many six-packs (or more like ten too many) because things did get out of hand at one point.

Natsu had gotten fireworks from who knows where. He couldn't find any matches or lighter so he decided to simply throw them in the fire.  
"Oh crap…" Gray said.  
"Everybody hit the deck!" Laxus yelled. Sand flew everywhere as they dived into the sand covering in their heads. The rockets exploded spiralling everywhere. One set the top of a coconut tree on fire.  
"Despite the fact we almost died, that was freaking awesome!" Gajeel said.  
The boys and Cana then had a drinking competition. When they ran out of beer they started chugging red bulls and monsters. Of course Cana won. And in case you're wondering, getting incredibly drunk, then downing energy drinks is _never_ a good idea.

Then Jet tired to prove that a couch could be used as a raft (it didn't turn out well). Droy had to take the coffee table to bring Jet back. Yeah, they had that much to drink. Persons started to spontaneously disappear (in pairs). Cana passed out on the beach and instead of carrying her inside they decided to make her look like Ash Ketchum after he falls asleep listening to Jigglypuff. After seeing that Lucy decided it was time she went to her room unless a similar fate befell her.

She walked in her room and found Erza on her bed…or partly on her bed at least. Her head and right hand were hanging over the side and her feet were sticking out from the other side. Alcohol and Fairy Tail don't make a good mix Lucy thought looking at the girl. She collapsed on her own bed curling under the blanket. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when someone shook her. She yelled out but a hand covered her mouth.

"Shh, if Erza wakes up she'll kill me," A voice said in her ear. She turned over and saw Natsu smiling down at her.  
"I think it's impossible for her to wake up right now," Said Lucy, "What are you doing here?"  
"I couldn't sleep."  
"Might have something to do with the five red bulls you had." Without him asking she shifted over making space for him. He lay down next her.  
"You may be awake but I was happily asleep." Lucy said yawning. Natsu pouted at her. "I'm going to sleep." She turned over so her back was to him. Natsu curled against her, wrapping his hands about her waist. She was actually falling asleep again when she felt his lips against the nape of her neck. A jolt ran down her spine.

"Natsu…" Her breath hitched. Natsu smiled against her skin and he bit her gently. She gasped again. "Damn you Dragoneel," She turned over facing him. He grinned wickedly at her. "Don't give me that look," She said before kissing him. They had a battle for dominance which Natsu won easily and Lucy didn't mind. He shifted so she under him. He pressed his lips against her neck, leaving a trail of marks in his wake. Lucy arched of the bed pressing closer to him.

"Natsu…wait…" He stopped and looked at her. "Erza is right there." Natsu turned around to look at the red head.  
"Oh, right." He sounded surprised like he had forgotten she was in the room. "She won't wake up."  
"Natsu!" She said half stern, half amused. She brushed her hand against his cheek softening her gaze. "We have time," She said softly. He smiled gently at her nodded. He kissed her, slower this time but not with any less passion. Lucy wasn't sure when they fell asleep but the next thing she knew she was waking up with the sun streaming in through the door and Erza frowning at them.

"Erza!" Lucy jumped causing Natsu to wake up. He didn't notice Erza at first.  
"Morning Lu…oh shit," He dived out of bed and made a break for the door but Erza grabbed him.  
"What are you doing?" She asked, her eyebrows narrowing.  
"Hey, morning Erza. How are you?" Natsu said sweat running down his brow.  
"Erza we just fell asleep. You were in the room the whole time passed out." Lucy said.  
"Please don't kill me." Natsu clasped his hands together. Erza looked between the two and decided to let Natsu go.

"I guess I should be happy it's you and Natsu." Erza said. "Just don't let me catch you again." She said sternly. They both nodded. When Erza turned her back to them Natsu whispered to Lucy, "We'll make sure she doesn't _catch _us."  
Lucy had to bite back her laughter.

"You guys want to go get some breakfast." Natsu asked. The girls nodded.  
"Did Levy go downstairs already?" Lucy asked indicating to the empty bed. Erza shrugged.  
"She wasn't here when I woke up." Erza said opening the door. Cana slumped into the room. Ske was snoring loudly. Erza poked her with her foot. Her eyes flickered open.

"What's the big idea?" She asked.  
"You are the one sleeping outside our room," Erza asked. She looked around.  
"How did I end up here?"  
"Good question," Erza extended her hand and helped her up. Cana noticed Natsu standing in the room.  
"What's he doing here?" Before anyone could answer she put the pieces together. "Way to go Luce," She patted Lucy on the back.  
"It's not like that," Lucy said blushing. As if Cana wasn't bad enough they walked out the room the same time Lisanna and Mira were coming down the hallway. Mira squealed when she saw the two together.

"Man, Mira. Nursing a hangover here." Cana said. "Can we put the shrieking on mute?"  
"Aww, you guys,"  
"It's not like that!" Lucy said.  
But that wasn't the end of good surprises for Mira. They walked down to the second floor and Natsu stopped at his room  
"Wait I want to get something," He turned the door handle but it was locked. "That's weird," He said trying again. Normally the only time they locked their doors was when they were leaving the house. "It's locked and my key is in the room." He was about to knock but Lucy grabbed his arm.  
"Why do you think it's locked?" Lucy asked him. He eyes opened wide with recognition.  
"Oh I see…then that means…"  
"Alright Gray," Cana said.  
"It has to be those two." Mira said. She looked positively ecstatic. Erza shook her head.  
"Don't chastise Scarlet; if Jellal was living here you probably won't have woken up in your room this morning." Cana said. Erza blushed.

"Go easy Cana, I doubt it's like that." Lucy said.  
"Who locks their doors in this house?"  
"Yeah, there is that but maybe…" She couldn't come with a good reason so instead she said. "We shouldn't be standing here. Let's go make some breakfast."  
"Who would have thought Gray and Juvia would be locking their door on us," Cana said.  
"I know. If I was going to put money on anyone to do that it would have been Mira and Fried." Natsu said. This caused Mira to slip down a couple steps.

The small group walked into the common room and found the remains of last night's revelry. There were empty bottles and cans everywhere. And persons scattered around the room. Alzack and Bisca were on the sofa. Max was snoring in a bead bag chair. Bixlow was out on the patio sleeping soundly. But they all gasped when they walked into the kitchen and found someone sleeping on the counter. Natsu nudged said person awake.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. Gray groaned.  
"I passed out here; you have a problem with that." He said sitting up holding his head.  
"But you are supposed to be in your room with Juvia." Cana said.  
"What? What are you talking about?"  
"If you aren't in the room and Natsu isn't," Erza said, "Then that means…"  
"NO WAY!" They said at the same time causing Gray to flinch.  
"It's about time." Lucy said.  
"What's going on?" Gray asked.  
"The door to our room is locked." Natsu said, "There aren't that many reasons to lock a door in this house."  
"That means…Gajeel." Gray said.  
Mira squealed making everyone covered their ears. "I thought he and Levy were never going to get together."  
"We can go on double dates with them." Lucy said to Natsu. He blushed.  
"Why would I do that?" He asked.  
"Levy is my best friend. It would be fun."  
"For you, Gajeel and I might kill each other."

Lucy laughed, knowing it was true. Mira started to make breakfast while humming. The others helped her and they were dishing out hash browns with sausage when Gajeel and Levy walked into the kitchen. They all stopped eating to stare at them. Levy and Gajeel froze.  
"What?" Levy asked.  
"Nothing," they chorused and promptly started eating again. Levy and Gajeel shared a look. She sat down next to Lucy.  
"What is up with you guys?" She asked. Lucy just grinned at her. "Seriously, you're freaking me out."  
Lucy whispered into her ear, "We know,"  
"Already? How?"  
"It's Fairy Tail, things don't stay a secret for long."  
"But we only got together last night."  
"Oh and you already…you naughty girl." Lucy grinned at her. Levy blushed.  
"Nothing like that happened, we just kissed." She whispered fiercely.  
"Then why was the door to the room locked?"  
"How did you know that?"  
"That's what tipped us off."  
"We didn't do anything…but at one point, things got…heated." Levy blushed deep red. Lucy grinned but didn't say anything knowing she should be the last person teasing about a make out session becoming heated.

"You know we should go out on our own date before we double date with anybody." Natsu said suddenly making Lucy and Levy turn to him.  
"I'm sorry," Lucy said.  
"We should go on an actual date before we start talking about going on a double date."  
Lucy and Levy shared a look before turned back to Natsu.  
"Natsu Dragoneel, are you asking me out on a date?" Lucy said. Natsu blushed and started stuttering.  
"Am, yea…I mean…if you want, we should…am…we don't have too,"

Lucy put an end to his misery by kissing him on the cheek. "Anyone ever tell you are really cute when you stutter?" she said, "And yes."  
"Yes what?"  
"Yes, I would love to go a date with you."  
Natsu grinned and kissed her, Lucy kissed back vaguely aware of the awwing and wolf whistles going on behind her.

* * *

Yes people, next chapter Natsu and Lucy go on a date. I promised that I would have a chapter entirely devoted to Natsu and Lucy and the next one will be that chapter.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	14. Chapter 14

The much anticipated date. Enjoy.

* * *

Lucy was in her room having a minor freak out. She had emptied all her clothes on to the bed and constantly picking up a jeans or skirt and pairing it with a top then she would toss it back into the pile with a huff.  
"Stop freaking, you'll look great in anything and Natsu doesn't care what you wear," Levy said.  
"But I care," Lucy picked up a grey jeans and white top then threw them back in the pile. "This is impossible. I'll never find something to wear."  
"Yes you will." Mira said.  
"You have to chill. Have a drink," Cana said.  
"Juvia thinks you should take a deep breath."  
"You'll look great no matter what Lucy." Wendy said.  
"I don't get why you are so obsessed with your clothes. Natsu's seen you in most of your clothes already," Erza said. They were sitting on Erza's and Levy's beds watching Lucy freak out.

"That is why I have to wear something amazing. This isn't just any date, this is Natsu."  
"Strange, I seem to remember someone saying she and Natsu were just friends…now who was that?" Levy said. Lucy stuck her tongue out at the girl.  
"Ha-ha, very funny. You were right, that's what you want me to say?"  
"It's a start." She teased.  
"Okay, please, please help me." Lucy clasped her hands together and looked at the girls. They shared a look.  
"Should we?" Levy asked.  
"It is fun watching her fret like this." Cana said.  
"Guys," Lucy whined.  
"Alright, let's stop torturing her." Mira said. She got from the bed and started to go through Lucy's clothes. Levy and Cana joined her.

They didn't know one floor below them a conversation of a similar nature was occurring. Natsu had just walked out of the bathroom dressed for the date.  
"That's what you're wearing?" Gray asked sitting up on his bed.  
"Yeah, what's wrong with it." He looked down at the shorts and t-shirt he had on.  
"I thought you liked Lucy?" Gray said.  
"Of course I do,"  
"Then why are you trying to get her to break up with you."  
"Shut up!"

Gajeel chuckled at the two. Natsu turned towards him.  
"Do you see anything wrong with my clothes?"  
"I don't really care." Gajeel said.  
"Gray, just tell me what's wrong with it."  
"You're not making an effort. You look like you are going for a run, not a date. At least put on a descent jeans and a shirt."  
"But why,"  
"Dude, trust me on this. Put on a jeans and shirt."

Natsu grunted and dug around his bag taking out his best jeans. He chuckled to himself when he remembered he would have never packed the shirt unless Lucy hadn't suggested it. It was white shirt with no logo or designs.  
"I don't know, it looks too plain." Gajeel said rubbing his chin when Natsu had finished dressing.  
"I thought you didn't care." Gray said.  
"I don't." Gajeel followed his hands. Natsu and Gray shook their heads at him.  
"I think I have just the thing." Gray started to dig around in his bag.

"I't's in here somewhere, yes!." Gray held up a black waistcoat. He threw it to Natsu. "Don't say I never did anything for you."  
"Thanks man," Natsu put on the waistcoat buttoning it up. The waistcoat had a low v-neck contrasting nicely with the high collar of the shirt.  
"That looks better." Gajeel said. Neither of the other boys bothered to comment about his lack of 'lack of interest.' A knock made all three of them turn towards the door. Gray who was closest opened the door. Levy and Erza were standing in the door way.  
"Lucy's sent us to find if out you're ready." Erza said.  
"I'm ready if she is." Natsu said.  
"Cool, we'll go get her. Oh by the way nice outfit." Levy said.  
"What'd I tell you?" Gray said. Natsu didn't say anything.  
"I feel like I'm in a car." Natsu said clutching his stomach. Gray and Gajeel both turned to him.

"Dude, relax. This is Lucy. Not some strange girl." Gray said.  
"Besides, you already kissed her. So you already have a head start so to say." Gajeel said.  
"But, what if I say something stupid or do something stupid."  
"It's you Natsu, for sure you are going to say something stupid and I would be shocked if you don't do anything stupid. Yet Lucy still wanted to date to for some strange reason." Gray said.

"Is that supposed to cheer me up?"  
"Yes, Lucy isn't dating you because she wants some fancy, prince, prissy boy. She wants you, with all you're weird quirks." Gray said.  
"Yeah dude, she knows you pretty damn well and still wants to date. That's saying something." Gajeel said.

"I actually feel a little better. Thanks guys, maybe you aren't totally useless."  
"Go get her dude," Gray stepped aside leaving the doorway open. Natsu walked into the hallway. He wasn't too surprised to find most of Fairy Tail standing there and along the stair way. Gray and Gajeel followed him out into the hall.  
"Good luck man," Max said patting Natsu on the back. Mira, who was standing halfway up the stairs, winked at him. Lisanna gave him thumbs up. Then movement at the top of the stairs drew his attention. He looked up and his vision tunneled. Lucy was standing at the top of the stairs. She had on a light pink blouse with a brown leather band around the waist. A short white pleated skirt and brown boots that came up to her knees.

Gray elbowed Natsu, "Close your mouth dude," he said. Natsu closed his mouth not even realizing it had been open. Lucy smiled at him and he felt his stomach do a flip. When she started walking down the stairs it started doing a full gymnastics routine. She stopped in front of him.  
Natsu couldn't find his voice. Gajeel kicked him in the shin.

"Ah…am…you look…wow." Natsu said. Lucy blushed.  
"You look pretty wow yourself."  
"After you, my lady." He said gesturing for her walk ahead. They walked downstairs with Fairy Tail behind them. Because Natsu was the only guy in Fairy Tail without a vehicle he had convinced Max to lend him his motorcycle (he had made sure to take several of Gajeel's ginger tables and had extras in his pocket).  
"Don't scratch it!" Max called after them.  
"I'll be careful," Natsu said swung his leg over the bike.  
"Natsu do you know how drive a motorbike?" Lucy asked.  
"There's a first time for everything,"  
"Natsu!"  
"I'm joking. Max gave me crash course earlier, plus I took part in that race with Gray a couple months back."  
"Yeah, but you got so sick you only got ten feet over the start line."  
"But I had to learn how to ride. Gray would have never let me live it down if he knew how to ride a bike and I didn't." Lucy didn't look convinced. "Come on, don't you trust me?" Natsu pouted at her. Lucy tried and failed to hide her smile.  
"Of course I trust you," She said.  
"Then get on."

Still smiling she got on behind Natsu.  
"Have fun you two!" Wendy said waving.  
"Come back as late as you want!" Mira said.

Natsu kicked started the bike and sent sand flying for a moment before racing to the road. Lucy found she didn't mind being on the bike, having to hold on to Natsu. Nope she didn't mind it one bit. Despite the cold night air she didn't feel cold at all. She pressed herself against his back drinking in his warmth.

"You okay back there?" Natsu asked over his shoulder.  
"Perfect," She said pressing closer to him. Natsu wove in between traffic with skill that betrayed his motion sickness problem. Lucy was very surprised with the ease he drove, especially through the cars in the heart of Magnolia.  
"Who knew you could ride so well?"  
She could hear the grin in his voice when he answered, "I know right. Maybe I should get my own bike."  
"I wouldn't mind that."

Natsu pulled into a parking spot and Lucy gasped.  
"We aren't eating here," She said looking at the restaurant they had stopped in front of, La Plage D'or. In simple terms it was fanciest place in Magnolia. The kind of place that had meals that took up less than a fifth of the plate yet cost more than most people made in a week.  
"Sure we are," Natsu said.  
"But…" Lucy didn't want to say that she thought he couldn't afford it but she also didn't want him to spend so much money on her, and she knew he would never split the bill with her.  
"Come on," Natsu took her and a pulled her into the restaurant. "Dragoneel," Natsu said when asked the name on the reservation.  
"Right this way sir, madame" He lead them to a table in the middle of the room and handed them each a menu. Lucy opened hers and started looking at the prices. God, a salad was _how much_?  
"Can I interest you in any drinks?" the waiter asked.  
"Just water thanks," Lucy said before Natsu ordered the oldest (and most expensive) bottle of wine in the place. The waiter nodded and left.

She glanced over at Natsu. He was frowning at his menu.  
"Lucy, do you know what De Jaeger is?" Natsu asked. Lucy closed her menu and looked at him.  
"I don't think you'll like it. It's snail caviar," She said.  
"What's caviar?"  
"Natsu, we really don't have to eat here,"  
"I wanted to take you some place nice,"  
"That's sweet Natsu, but honestly we could go to Mc Donald's enjoy our meal more and spend less than a basket of bread will cost here."  
"Lucy, money is no problem."  
"I know it isn't."  
"Then don't worry about it and order whatever you want." Natsu hiding his head behind the menu.  
"Natsu…" He didn't say anything. "Natsu look at me."

He put down the menu and look at her. She sighed and said, "Natsu this is kind of place I would expect Sage to take me to, not you."  
"That's why I brought you her–" He stopped himself short. Lucy raised an eyebrow.  
"Alright, spill." She said. Natsu didn't say anything. "If you don't talk I swear I will walk out right now."  
"The guys said I have to prove I can give you all the things any other guy you dated can." He mumbled looking at his lap. Lucy felt her heart turn over. She leaned forward and placed her hand over his.

"Natsu, who am I with right now?"  
"Ah…me," he answered a little confused.  
"Right, I'm with you. Not some rich heir to an oil company. And I want to be with _you, _because of you. Not because of the money you can throw around during a date."  
"But Lucy –"  
"No buts. Natsu listen to me. I'll be happy anywhere, once I'm with you. I don't care if we send fifty dollars on dinner, or fifty cents. All I care about is the person I'm with, and if that person is you then I'm happy."  
"But this is the kind of place you are accustom to eating in."  
"Trust me, I've been to way to many of these kind of places so can we go somewhere where we actually know how to pronounce our meals." She smiled at him.  
"Are you sure?"  
"Please, nothing would make me happier."  
"Alright Luce," He stood up and ten minutes later they were sitting on a bench eating gyros. Lucy was laughing because the filling kept out of Natsu's one every time he tried to take a bite. When he did manage to take a bite half of it ended up his face.  
"Come here you," She pulled him towards her a wiped his mouth and chin. "Isn't this better than eating in some restaurant?"  
"I guess I would never be able to make you laugh like that while eating snail clavier."  
"Caviar. A clavier a kind of keyboard." Lucy said laughing. Natsu smiled.  
"I love hearing you laugh." He said. Lucy blushed but was smiling. She took a bite of her gyro just to have something to do.

Natsu finished eating before she did and just sat there staring at her.  
"What? Do I have something on my face?"  
"No, no. You're perfect, that's all."  
"Natsu,"  
"You really are. You are the most beautiful girl in the world." He tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. She blushed and looked down.  
"Be serious Natsu. There are a lot of better looking girls." She said softy. He gently curled a finger under her chin and tilted her head upwards. Leaning close to her he said, "No there isn't. Not to me." He kissed her softly making her heart race. He pulled back much to soon for her liking.

"Come on, or we'll be late for the movie," he said.  
"We're going to a movie?"  
"Yeah. Dinner and movie, isn't that the first date standard."  
"I guess you're right," She smiled. "What are we going to see?"  
"You have the choice between The Heat and Sinister."  
"The comedy and scary movie, another date cliché."  
"Well which one?" Natsu asked getting on the bike. Lucy thought about it for a moment and decided she couldn't resist the chance to curl up next to Natsu in a dark theater. "Sinister."

As it turned out Sinister was a very scary movie…maybe too scary. They had been watching the movie and at one point near the middle the music had gotten really intense. Lucy had reached over to take Natsu's hand and he jumped so badly that he knocked the popcorn into the air, covering both of them in the white stuff. Forty five minutes later Natsu was storming out of the cinema with a giggling Lucy behind him.

"Natsu, wait. Come on, I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh," She tried to suppress her smile.  
"Just kill me now." Natsu grumbled.  
"Oh, Natsu."  
"That was pathetic. I'm the guy, I shouldn't be the one scared."  
"It's alright. It was a scary movie. I was really scared too."  
"Yeah, but you didn't jump a foot in the air."  
"I thought it was cute."  
"Yep, that's want any guy wants to hear after coming out from a scary movie. You are cute when you are scared."

Lucy took a step closer to him putting her hands around his neck. "Being cute is not a bad thing," She plucked a popcorn kennel from his hair. "Besides, you don't have to prove you're strong and brave to me. I already know that."  
"Bet I'm not looking so brave right now."  
"Let me tell you secret, I really don't care about a guy being brave that much. There are others things that are more important to me."  
"Like what?"  
"Being kind, smart, a good friend, trustworthy, gentle and companionate. And you Natsu, are all these things and more." She rest her forehead against his. He was still frowning. "Give me smile, please."  
He looked away from her.

"I'll make you deal. You stop frowning I'll keep this between us. No one will know."  
"No one?"  
"It will be our little secret."  
Natsu gave a small smile and Lucy grinned. "There's my Natsu." She kissed him on the nose. "Where to next?"  
"It's surprise."  
"Aww, can't you tell me?"  
"No, or it won't be a surprise."

Lucy was forced to wait to find out where Natsu was taking her. It have felt like they had been riding for hours (it was only twenty minutes) before Natsu finally pulled over. They had stopped at the base of a hill.  
"Where are we?"  
"You'll see." Natsu took her hand and lead the way to the top. Lucy gasped when they reached to crest. Below then was a breath taking view of the ocean, reflecting the full moon. The sky was filled with thousands of stars.  
"It's beautiful," She said in awe.  
"Yeah, beautiful," But Natsu wasn't looking at the sea or sky.

They lay down in the grass looking at the sky, just talking. Lucy had her head on Natsu's chest, their fingers were woven together at their sides. Natsu made sure he told a lot of jokes to make Lucy laugh. A bright streak shot across the sky making Lucy gasp in excitement.  
"A shooting star, make a wish," She said.  
"What could I possible wish for when I have the girl I love next to me?"

Lucy turned over and looked at Natsu, "Do you mean that?"  
"Yeah, I'm too happy to want anything."  
"No not that, the other part…the girl you love part. Did you really mean that?"  
Natsu's face went from shocked to horrified to embarrassed in about five seconds. He obviously hadn't planned on saying that.  
"I do. I have for a while now, but I wasn't brave enough to tell you." He said blushing. Lucy felt her heart race and in that moment she realized something. Something that was so monumental she didn't know how she didn't realize it sooner. She felt tears prickle the corner of her eyes. She held Natsu's face in her hands.  
"I love you too."  
Natsu's eyes widened, "Y-you do?"  
"Yes," She laughed, tears running down her face, partly from the joy she felt bloom in her heart, partly because she had been so stupid to take this long to realize it. "I love you Natsu. I love you."

When they kissed it felt so perfect, so right neither wanted it to end. The world could have ended right then and there and they wouldn't have cared. In that moment all that matter was each other and nothing else.

* * *

Let me know what you guys thought, I really want to hear your thoughts for this chapter.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	15. Chapter 15

I'm so sorry guys this is so late. I hit a patch of writers block, but I've worked through it...mostly. I've almost planned out how the rest of the story will play out. Yes, I'm starting to work towards the end, but it won't be for a couple chapters yet so in the mean time enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Sage, Mitch and Harris were driving along the coast when suddenly Sage slammed on the break.  
"Hey, what's the idea?" Harris complained because he had hit his head on the seat in front of him. Sage didn't answer. He was gripping the steering so hard his knuckles turned white. Mitch and Harris followed his gaze.  
"Oh," Mitch said.  
"Dude, that is…" Harris couldn't find the right words to say. The three of them were watching two persons running on a hillside. Those two persons were Natsu and Lucy.  
"And she had the gall to tell me she didn't want to get in a relationship," said Sage.  
"Well she did agree to date you again…before she found out –" Mitch cut himself short when Sage glared at him.  
"I'm not going to let them win. I'm not going to let that pink haired idiot win," Said Sage.  
"What are we going to do?"  
"I don't know yet, but it has to be big." Sage speed of leaving tire marks on the road.

Lucy and Natsu were so enthralled that they never noticed the car that stopped and then drove off.  
"Natsu, stop it," said Lucy her laughter floating around them. Natsu was tickling her. She slipped out of his grip and ran up the hill side. She ducked behind a tree leaning against the trunk to catch her breath. She peaked around the side and saw the hillside was empty.  
"Natsu?" She called out taking a step from behind the tree. "Natsu?" she called again, a little louder. She only heard the wind. She walked forward looking around. Suddenly he jumped her.

"Got yah'." Said Natsu hugging her from behind. They fell forward rolling down the hill, still laughing. They came to a stop at the foot of the hill, Lucy on top of Natsu.  
"You're crazy, you know that right?" She said running her fingers though his hair. He flashed her his lopsided grin that made her heart skip a beat.  
"We should head back, before we end up staying out here all night." Lucy said standing up. Natsu sat up resting his hands on his knees.  
"Don't give me that look," She pleaded. She could feel her resistance crumbling. "It's late and I'm tired."  
"Alright," He stood up brushing off his pants, "I can't say no to you." They got on Max's bike and it took all of Lucy's willpower not to be lured sleep by Natsu's warmth.

Half an hour later Natsu pulled to a stop and turned off the bike. "We're home."  
Lucy just mumbled still hugging Natsu from behind.  
"Are you going to let me go?"  
"Too comfy…"  
Natsu twisted and swung Lucy into his arms. She let out a gasp of surprise locking her hands around his neck to stable herself. Natsu held her close to him, nuzzling his nose against hers.  
"Still comfy?" he asked. Lucy made a sound of agreement, "Let's go my sleeping beauty," Natsu stood up walking towards the front door. Warren who was on guard duty snickered at them.  
"No, I don't want to be sleeping beauty." Lucy said.  
"What? Why not?" asked Natsu laughing.  
"Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales but the ones where the girl has to wait on the guy to come save her aren't really my favorites."  
"Alright, then who do you want to be?" Natsu asked opening the front door and walking inside.

Lucy thought about it for a moment, "Belle. I want to be Belle and you can be my beast."  
"Beast, I like the sound of that," Natsu started growling and gnashing his teeth together.  
"Shh," Lucy said even though she was laughing, "I'm sure everyone is asleep by now."  
"Good, I wouldn't want them see this anyway."  
"See wha–" Lucy was caught off guard by Natsu's kiss by it wasn't long before she was melting into the embrace. Without breaking the kiss Natsu managed to walk up two flights of stairs. When he stopped in front of her room Lucy was feeling considerably lightheaded. Natsu put her down and she swayed dangerously but Natsu held her upright.

"Are you okay?" Asked Natsu, worry in his voice.  
"Ah…I-whoa," She took a deep breath to clear her head, "Yeah, it just…that was, wow."  
Natsu chuckled and held her a bit closer, "I know, my heart races just from holding you like this," He said in a low voice that made shivers run down her spine. They just stood like that, in the dark hallway. Neither wanted to move. Finally Lucy spoke, "We really should go to bed, if anyone comes out and finds us like this we'll never hear the end of it."  
"And I have a shift tomorrow night so I should get some sleep." Natsu kissed her again, pressing her against the door. "I'll see you in the morning." He said.  
"Have sweet dreams."  
"They will be once you're in them. Love you."  
"Love you too."

Natsu gave her one last kiss before heading down the stairs. Lucy remained leaning against the door grinning like a Cheshire cat. That was until the door was pulled open sending her tumbling backwards into her room. She fell flat on the floor and found herself looking up at Levy, Erza, Mira, Cana and Juvia.

"Please don't tell me you heard all of that?" She asked.  
"We didn't heard _all _of it, there were some moments were you were talking too soft to hear," Levy said.  
"Actually I think the quiet times were when they were kissing. I'm sure I heard Lucy moan a couple times then." Cana said. Lucy blushed beet red.  
"Why are you even awake?" She asked getting up.  
"We want to hear what happened on your date," Juvia said.  
"Duh," Cana added.  
"And don't leave anything out." Said Mira.  
"I don't have choice in the matter, do I?"  
"Of course not." Levy said. Lucy sighed.  
"Alright, just let me change first."

The moment she had changed the girls pressed her for every detail of the night. It involved a lot of awwing, squealing and sighs (mostly from Mira). Even after she had finished they still asked her a million questions.  
"Come on, can't we go to sleep now?" She begged. "I've told you everything that happened tonight." That wasn't entirely true. She kept her promise and didn't tell them how Natsu have jumped out of his skin in the movie. "Plus, I'm really tired."She added.  
"Okay, we get Natsu wore you out," Cana winked at her. Lucy pushed her playfully.  
"You're a perv," She said.  
"I don't hear you denying it."  
"Shut up!"  
"Still not denying it." Everyone expect Lucy started laughing.  
"Okay, out!" She said trying to hide her very, very red face. She started ushering them to the door.  
"You can't kick us out, this is our room too." Levy said indicating to herself and Erza. She paused for a moment, then still pushed them out, locked the door and promptly got into bed. Two minutes later Lucy got hit in the face by a pillow.

"You forgot to lock the balcony doors," Erza said.  
"We came around from Cana's room," Levy said.  
Lucy tossed the pillow back at them, "Just go to bed," she pulled the covers over her head (her face was still very red).

Sadly the next day Cana decided Lucy hadn't suffered enough. The first thing Lucy heard when she came down was, "Wow, I didn't expect you to get up this early considering what happened last night."  
This made everyone who was downstairs to look at Lucy, then Natsu.  
"Cana, I swear I will punch you." Said Lucy. Cana chuckled and raised her glass.

"What was that about?" Natsu asked when Lucy sat down next to him.  
"Don't ask." She took some food and ate quickly avoiding everyone's gazes.  
"So what are we doing today?" Gray asked.  
"I have an errand to run for gramps down the cape and I was thinking of taking the boat. Anyone up for a trip to the island?" Laxus asked.  
"Tenrou? I love that place, count me in." Erza said.  
"Same here," Cana said.  
"The reefs there are so pretty. I'm coming too." Wendy said.  
"We can take lunch and spend the whole day there," Mira suggested. In a few minutes practically everyone was going. Tenrou was a small island about an hour from the coast and Fairy Tail were the only ones who used it. It was like a secret getaway for them. While everyone was packing food, towels and other things they would need an argument broke out between Natsu and Gajeel.

"How many did you take?!" Gajeel yelled.  
"Only as much I needed!"  
"And how much was that?"  
"I don't know, a handful."  
"What's going on with you two?" Levy asked.  
"He used up all my ginger tablets!" Gajeel said.  
"It still had some left!" Natsu shot back.  
"TWO! It has two! Two isn't going to enough for a trip to the island for one of us!"  
"So? We'll go get some more."

"I'm not going to wait just so you two bone heads can go get some tablets for your stomachs." Laxus said over his shoulder.  
"But we can't go on a boat without them, we'll die!" Natsu said, despair in his voice.  
"You won't die from sea sickness and no one is making you come," Gray said.  
"Yeah you can just stay at home and kill each other while we all go enjoy ourselves on the island," Cana said.

"If you don't want to go we'll stay back with you," Lucy told Natsu.  
"Yeah, it won't be any fun for me if you're not there." Levy said taking Gajeel's hand.  
"You don't have to do that for me." Said Gajeel looking down at Levy. She smiled at him.  
"But I want to."  
"Lucy, go to the island. You'll have more fun there, than being stuck here." Natsu said.  
"I don't think so. I'll rather be with you."

"Please, decide something before we die from boredom." Gray said.  
"If you all willing to stay back with me then I'll take some motion sickness for you." Natsu said.  
"Are you sure?" she asked.  
"Yeah, I managed the drive up here so I should be able to handle this."  
"I can't let Salamander one up me, I'm coming too." Gajeel said.

That was why forty five minutes later when everyone was on the speedboat Natsu and Gajeel were leaning over the side.  
"Kill…me…" Gajeel mumbled.  
"Just take deep breaths," Levy said rubbing his back. Lucy was doing the same for Natsu. The girls shared a sad look. It was not an easy trip for the boys, first Laxus went down the coast to pick up something from Porlyusica a friend of Makarov.  
"Dear me, Makarov said he was sending his grandson, not all his kids." She said once she saw all of them when they pulled up at the docks.  
"We're heading over to the island to do some snorkeling and stuff." Laxus said climbing out of the boat. She chuckled.  
"You kids always seem to be busy; well here is everything your grandfather asked for." She handed him a bag. "Tell him not to use too much at once."  
"Will do. I'll see you around. Oh, gramps said you should come to the house every now and them."  
"Not unless I have to." She said. Laxus shook his head and jumped back into the boat.

"What's in the bag?" Cana asked.  
"Some ointment for gramps, for his joints or something." Laxus said. "Alright, next stop Tenrou Island."  
Natsu and Gajeel both covered their mouths as the boat started to move again. No one was happier than those two when their boat finally pulled alongside the jetty at Tenrou. Gajeel was the first one off. Natsu didn't even wait that long. As soon as they were near enough he jumped into the water.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked when his head popped back above the surface. He shook his head ridding it off excess water.  
"I'm great now." He said grinning. She got off the boat and kneeling down on the jetty, held out her hand for him. He took it, but instead of she pulling him out, he pulled her into the water.  
"Natsu, you idiot!" She said even though she was laughing.  
"Someone throw us goggles." Natsu called. Lisanna threw a pair to each of them. "Okay, let's watch the show." Natsu ducked underwater Lucy right behind him. The waters around the island were filled of corals which in turn were filled hundreds of colorful fish, which was the main reason they came here. The splashes behind them told Natsu and Lucy others had entered the water. Gray and Juvia swam into view as did Erza and Wendy. Romeo and Warren also decided to check out the reef. The others went for a hike around the island.

Elfman was busying setting up net for volleyball. Levy had spread out a towel in the shade of a tree and was reading. Gajeel took the book from her.  
"Hey!" She made a grab for it but he easily held out of her reach. "Come Gajeel, give it back."  
"I'll give it back," he held out for her but pulled it back when she reached out for it, "When we're going home."  
"Why?"  
"You have the whole summer to read, heck you have your whole life to read. We're on an island with our best friends, even the bunny girl isn't reading. Let's go. You're going to have some fun."  
"Reading is fun."  
"I mean real fun," Gajeel said.  
"And what exactly is false fun?"  
"I'll throw the book into the water if you don't get up."  
"NO! Alright, I'll go with you."

Gajeel grinned and offered her the book. "How come everybody uses my books as ransoms to make me do stuff?" She asked out loud as she stored the book in her bag.  
"Because we all know how much you care about your books." Gajeel said. "It makes you easy to target." He picked her up and placed her on his shoulders.  
"What is with you and carrying me around?" She asked looking down at him.  
"Well, you're light enough to carry around, so why not?"

They walked around the island (which was small enough to cover in about half an hour). Then they had a stone skipping contest. Levy won much to her surprise and Gajeel's frustration.  
"You just got lucky." Gajeel grumbled as they walked back to the makeshift camp the others had set up. Levy was walking this time. She didn't say anything to avoid hurting his already bruised pride. Mira was sharing lunch when they got back, ham and cheese sandwiches.  
"Hey, where were you two?" She asked an evil glint in her eyes. Gajeel just grunted and took five sandwiches.  
"We just went for a walk." Levy said talking a sandwich.

"Bet I can eat the most sandwiches!" Natsu said.  
"No one can eat more than me, or I wouldn't be a man." Elfman said.  
"Then I guess you're not a man 'cause I can eat way more than you." Gajeel said.  
"Oh no, no eating contests." Lucy said to Natsu.  
"Why?"  
"You want to ride back with a full stomach?" She said sternly. Natsu frowned and put down the sandwich he had in his hand. Gray grinned and made a whipping sound.  
"At least I have a girlfriend." Natsu said to him, that wiped the smile from his face.  
"I could get girlfriend…you know, if I knew anyone." Several persons faced palmed themselves at his comment. Juvia had gone quite next to him.

"Alright, that's it we have to do something to push them together." Mira whispered to the other girls.  
"Do you have anything in mind?" Cana asked.  
"Oh, I have several things." She grinned at them with a look in her eyes. They knew that look, and when Mira got that look it was never good news.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and sorry again for being late.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	16. Chapter 16

At first I was blocked on what Mira would come up with to get Gray and Juvia together so I started writing the first part of this chapter while thinking about it, then inspiration hit me. It was so simple yet so wicked it has Mira written all over it. Then I realized they would have to be at Fairy Tail for the plan to take place, so needed something for Mira to do while they were still on the island first...and I think I came up something that pretty good, if i do say so myself. Let me know what you think.

Oh and I suggest you listen to this (_www. youtube watch?v=FL0bjwez8mg_ [minus the spaces]) for the last part of the chapter.

* * *

"Okay everyone, how about we have a volleyball tournament?" Elfman said jumping to his feet.  
"I'm in, and I'm a captain." Laxus said.  
"Oh, I want to be a captain!" Natsu said jumping to his feet waving his hand in the air.  
"Like if you could be a captain. I should be a captain." Gray said.  
"You? Don't make laugh."  
"I don't see what's funny." Gray shoved Natsu.  
"That's cause you can't your face right now." Natsu pushed him back. Gray pushed Natsu down and jumped on top of him. In the end neither of them ended up being a captain. Instead Erza was made a captain, along with Laxus, Max and Elfman.

The teams were-

Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Wendy  
Laxus, Mira, Gajeel, Cana and Juvia  
Max, Nab, Vijeeter, Warren and Romeo  
and finally Elfman, Jet, Droy, Alzack and Reedus.

The others decided to sit on the sidelines and watch.

In the first game Laxus' team utterly crushed Elfman's. They ran them into the ground. I mean that literally, more than once Laxus and Gajeel hit some spikes that knocked them into the sand. Jet lost consciousness at one point after taking a ball to the head from Laxus and was switched out with Bixlow. Levy volunteered to look after Jet which Gajeel didn't like and he took that out on the ball, which in turn knocked out Droy. After that Elfman had to forfeit the match because on else wanted to go up against Laxus' team.

Max's team didn't fare very well against Erza and the others. Their match started off on a bad note when Gray got in the first point, then Natsu got in three because he didn't want to be out done by Gray. Although Max and Romeo both managed to score a point but it didn't matter because at that point it stopped being a volleyball match and turned on a challenge between Natsu and Gray to see who could score the most points. Erza only got to score one point and Lucy and Wendy didn't even have to do anything. They stood watching as the five boys on the other side of the net ran around trying (and failing) to keep up with Natsu's and Gray's volleys. The game ended with the official score being 7 to 25, the unofficial score Natsu- 11, Gray- 13.

"I scored more than you. How do you like them apples?" Said Gray.  
"You just got lucky! I'll score more than you in the next match!"

So the final match was Laxus' team vs. Erza's.  
"Don't get in my way Gray," Natsu said.  
"Why would I do that?"  
"Cause you're an idiot."  
"Hey, Laverne and Shirley you'd better stop your bickering if you want to win against us," Said Gajeel.  
"WE"LL WIN NO MATTER WHAT!" Natsu and Gray yelled at the same time.  
"Good Luck with that,"  
"We will win easily," Natsu said  
"We could win with one hand tied behind our backs," Gray said.  
"I'll second that," Natsu and Gray bummed fists.  
"Those two…" Lucy said shaking her head.  
"One moment they want to bury each the next they'll best of friends," Erza said.

"Are you just going to stand there or are we going to play volleyball?" Cana said.  
The two teams got in position. Laxus had won the coin toss so he was serving. He pitched the ball high in the air then slammed it over the net. Erza jumped and hit it back. Mira dived in the sand to stop it from touching the ground. Gajeel send it back over the net. Wendy hit into the air and Natsu smashed it towards the other side. Juvia hit up just before it touched the ground.

Cana spiked it over the net. Gray dived into the sand but just missed it.  
"Alright!" Gajeel pumped a fist into the air. Mira and Cana high fived.  
"Damn it Gray! How could you miss that?" Natsu yelled.  
"I didn't see you stopping it." Gray shot back.  
"Stop fighting or we'll never win." Erza said pushing them apart. "I'll serve." She picked up the volleyball spiking it over the net. Mira hit it back.  
"I got it!" Natsu yelled.  
"No I got it!" Gray said. They ran into each other. The volleyball bounced of them and into the sand. Erza faced palmed herself.  
"Guys get serious!" Lucy said.  
"It two for none." Laxus taunted.  
"The match just started." Erza said. Lucy severed this time. A quick set of volleys set the ball back and fought over the net but Erza managed to send the ball into the sand on the other side earning their first point.

"Yes!" Wendy jumped in the air. The three girls high fived while Natsu and Gray stuck their tongues out at the others. Around this time bets were being placed in the small group of observers. Everyone knew this was going to become an interesting match.

The ball few so fast over the net that at times it was a blur. Sand was flying at the players' feet. Laxus' side managed to score three more points, then Natsu got two point in a row. Gray didn't like that and scored his own point. Lucy just managed to get the ball past Cana scoring another point tying it up.

But not for long. Gray spiked another time sending the ball into the sand.  
"Ha! I'm tied with you Natsu." He said.  
"Guys, we're on the same team." Erza said.  
Gajeel severed and Lucy hit into the air. Erza sent it rocketing back over the net. Cana hit the ball to Mira who it to Juvia who send over the net. Gray dived in the sand to save it and Wendy send it over the net. Gajeel sent it right back.

Erza hit the ball straight up into the air, it seemed to hover for a moment then came back down. Lucy and Juvia ran to the net because the ball looked like it could fall on either side. It came back on Lucy's side and she sent back to Natsu who sent it over the net, only he sent it too far.

"That's out of bounds, our point." Laxus said.  
"Nice going flame eater." Gray said.  
"Shut up you ice sucker."  
"If you both don't shut up I swear I will tie you to the bottom of the boat when we are going home." Erza said. Natsu and Gray paled.

As the match continued the intensity grew between the two sides. But even that was out classed by Natsu and Gray. The two were relentless neither wanting the other to score less that the pther had. It finally came to a boil then the score was 23-24 with Erza's team in the lead (and the unofficial one was Natsu-8 Gray-7)

Laxus spiked the ball hard over the net, Erza hit it to Natsu who was about to send it over but Gray tried to hit as it was going over. Instead he sent into the net

"Gray!" Erza yelled.  
"That happened differently in my head."  
"Yeah, well in real life it gave them a point. Winner is the first to reach 25 so it means the next point decides it."  
"Don't worry I'll be the one to score that point." Gray said.

When Gray severed the gamed started with a new ferocity. Neither side was giving an inch. Everyone watching was cheering loudly (mainly because it was their money on the line). Natsu slammed the ball over the net, but Laxus set it skywards and Juiva spiked it back. Lucy dived in the sand and hit to Wendy. She hit to Gray. He smashed it over the net. Cana jumped backwards saving it at the last moment.

Lucy jumped at the net and sent it right back toward an empty space of sand. It looked like it was over. Laxus dived head first hitting the ball upwards and Mira hit over the net. Natsu and Gray dived for it but couldn't make it. It hit the sand right in front them.

"And the volleyball champions of Fairy Tail are decided!" Gajeel yelled. Half of Fairy Tail cheered. The other half were getting their wallets grumbling.

"Looks like we won after all." Laxus said.  
"Hey, there is still a lot of summer left. That title won't last for long." Erza said.  
"We're ready anytime." Cana said.

"I was so close…" Gray said. Natsu grinned widely.  
"Why are you smiling? Your team lost," Gajeel said.  
"Yeah, but I got more points that Gray. I won."  
"No you didn't! Remember I won in the first match, plus I got more points in that match."  
"Yeah, but Laxus and his team were better opponents," Natsu replied.

"We need to settle this," Gray said.  
"We'll have a race."  
"A foot race? I want in." Gajeel said.  
"Me too," Jet said.  
"I'm not sitting this out," Laxus said. Similar sentiments came from the other boys.  
"The first one around the island."  
"On the count of three…1…2…" Natsu started running, "3."  
"You little cheat!" Gray ran after him. The guys all took off kicking up a dust cloud.

Lucy sighed as she watched the boys disappear down the beach. "They never stop, do they?" She asked.  
"No," Levy said with smile, "But then that might be part of the reason why we like them."  
A smiled graced Lucy's lips, "Yeah, I guess so."

While the boys had their foot race the girls started packing up. They were almost finished when they saw the approaching dust cloud.  
"And that would be the guys," Mira said.  
"Who's in the lead?" Wendy asked. They couldn't tell at first because of the sand in the air. It wasn't until the group got closer they saw Jet was in the lead by a mile, he ran across the line Cana had drew in the sand with a branch long before anyone else. Behind him was Laxus followed by Natsu, Gray and Gajeel who were shoving each other, jostling for a position. Gajeel elbowed them both and managed to get ahead. Gray and Natsu were still fighting with each other. Max and Fried over took the two.

The something happened and Gray and Natsu fell over, making a trench in the sand about twenty feet from the line. The others all ran past them. Natsu jumped to his feet but Gray grabbed his ankle and he fell again.

By now everyone else had crossed the finish and were watching the two. Gray tried to do a weird scramble forward on all fours but Natsu jumped on top of him. They rolled over in the sand punching and kicking. Every time one of them tired to get to the line they were stopped by the other.

"This is actually sad to watch." Gajeel said. Natsu was dragging Gray back but the ankles. He jumped over the boy but Gray managed to tackle him to the ground.

"Erza, just stop it." Lucy said covering her face. Erza complied by walking up to the two grabbing them by the shorts and throwing them over the line.

"There you crossed at the same time. It's a tie. Now stop fighting." Erza glared at them.  
"Yes Erza," They said together. "We're sorry."

They were packing everything into the boat when Mira suddenly asked Laxus to talk.  
"Sure," He followed her a little way from the others out of earshot.  
"What's that about?" Fried asked.  
"I think I know," Cana said. Before she could continue they all heard Laxus yell "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?"

Everyone glanced at them. Mira was pressing her finger to her lips. Laxus obviously wasn't listening. He was waving his hands around pointing in the direction of the boat. Mira folded her arms and gave Laxus a look that made him take several steps backwards. Even at a distance the others shuttered under Mira's '_look_' even if it wasn't turned on them. Laxus turned sharply and walked back to the boat.

"What are you looking at? Get on board!" He said climbing into the boat. Mira was practically skipping back to them.  
"Mira, did that have anything to with…"  
"Yep," Mira answered before Erza could finsh.  
"What did you ask him to do?" Lucy asked. She winked at them.  
"You'll see," She climbed on board.

"This isn't going to be good, is it?" Levy asked.  
"When is one Mirajane's plans ever good?" Cana said. They all climbed aboard looking at Mira. She was sitting next to Juvia chatting happily. None of the girls could fathom what she was up to. Once everyone was in Laxus pulled out onto the open sea.

This time the ride was much rougher, jostling everyone around. Natsu and Gajeel looked terminal. Lucy was trying to help Natsu keep his lunch down so she didn't see when it happened. The boat hit a wave that lifted everyone from their seats a little. But for Juvia is did more than that. She was thrown out of the boat.

"Juvia!" A cry came from several persons at the same time. Almost as soon as Juvia had disappeared under the waves a blur dived off the boat.  
"Was that…" Levy knew she didn't need to ask who just jumped into the water. All the girls who knew about Mira's plan all turned towards the girl. Her face was filled with shock and fear just like everyone else.  
"Did she…She wouldn't have…thrown Juvia?" Lucy asked in a quiet voice. Erza had crossed to this side of the boat to see the water where Gray and Juvia had vanished.  
"I happened to be looking right at them when it happened and it didn't look that way, but how else could she have…" Erza cut herself short when Gray and Juvia appeared at the surface. Everyone let out a sigh. Gray helped Juvia swim back to the boat. Elfman and Bixlow pulled them out of the water.

"Are you guys okay?" Romeo asked. They were both breathing heavy. Gray nodded.  
"Juvia thinks so…" She looked at Gray, "Thank you Gray sama…but you didn't have to do that."  
"Don't mention it," Gray said.  
"She's right thought, you jumped in the water very quickly. Juvia is a national level swimmer; she could easily handle these waters." Mira said sweetly. Gray blushed.  
"I…ah…was just worried about her. She could have been hurt….or something." He looked away running a hand though his hair. Mira smiled; a smile that looked, to all the world, like a happy smile, but those who knew Mira could just see the hint of evil hidden in the smile.

"But still that was very brave of you, just jumping in without a second thought. It's the kind of thing someone does for the person they –"  
"I said don't mention it," Gray said quickly. He stumbled over to a seat as far from Mira as possible. Mira frowned and helped Juvia back into her seat. She put a towel around the girl rubbing her shoulders. Juvia looked like she was in shock, although Lucy couldn't tell if it was because of falling into the sea or Gray jumping to save her.

Laxus shook his head and set the boat in motion again. If it hadn't been for Natsu's face become a little less green Lucy would have never notice the ride was now smoother that before.  
"I think Mira asked Laxus to make the ride back rough so her _accident_ could happen." Lucy whispered to Levy and Erza.  
"Sounds like Mira," Erza said.  
"But how did she get Juvia in the water?" Levy asked. Lucy shrugged.

"Looks like Mira's plan didn't work as well as she hoped," Levy said.  
"Which means she isn't going to give up," Lucy said.  
"May god help Gray and Juvia," Erza said.

It was after sunset when they got back to Fairy Tail. They had a quick dinner and then most persons went to bed for some rest after a long day. Lucy was among them.

Lucy woke up and, strangely, heard music. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand, it was around midnight. Rubbing her eyes she got out of bed and walked out to the balcony. The night air blew against her skin making goose bumps rise on the surface of her skin. She shivered and rubbed her palms together. She was going to return to the comfort and warmth of her bed when the music reached her ears again. She looked down and smiled. As comfy and warm as her bed was she knew she could go one better.

Natsu was on guard duty, sitting crossed legged on the patio when he felt slim, soft fingers slide over his eyes. A voice whispered in his ear, "Guess who." He grinned and lifted his hands to the one covering his eyes and gently moved them.  
"What are you doing up?" He asked Lucy over his shoulder. She knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  
"I just happened to look down from the balcony, saw you all by your lonesome and decided you could do with some company." She kissed him on the cheek. He pulled her into his lap giving her his best evil grin.  
"You just happened to look down?" He asked slyly.  
"Alright, I heard music and got curious. But I did really think you could use some company when I saw you."  
"Well I can't complain about my company," said resting his forehead against hers. She closed the distance between them.

_"Cool! Cool! Cool!" _

Lucy pulled back, "What the heck?"  
"That's just the radio," Natsu said with a laugh, "It must have been the music you heard before." He indicated to the radio sitting on the patio not far from them.

_"Helloooo to everyone listen to the Late Night Mash on Sorcerer Radio. Jason here bringing you all the cooooolest music! Right now I have slow one for all you midnight Romeos listening out there –Everytime we touch, acoustic version." _

The sounds of the piano floated out of the radio. Natsu stood up and held his hand out for Lucy.  
"Can I have this dance, my lady?"  
Smiling Lucy took his hand. He held one of her hands and placed his other hand at the base of her back gently holding her closer. The hairs on Lucy's skin were standing up, but it wasn't because of the cold. As the first words began they moved slowly to the beat, never breaking eye contact. Lucy found herself lost to the music. Everything else became a blur except the music and Natsu. She was a little surprised with the ease of his movements.

Natsu spun Lucy out, shifted his hands spinning her back, only this time her back was against his chest keeping their arms crossed in front of her. She lay her head back against his shoulder closing her eyes as they swayed from side to side.

"Aren't you full of surprises," She said softly. He pressed his lips against the exposed skin of her neck for a second.  
"You haven't seen anything yet," He whispered in her ear. He spun her again, turning her a few times before holding her against him and dipping her in a slow arc. She blinked at him as he held her inches from the ground. He grinned and pulled her back up.

"Wow, Natsu…" She placed her hands on his shoulders and his hands moved down her sides slowly coming to a rest on her hips. She closed her eyes and rest her forehead against his.  
"This is perfect," Natsu said in a low voice. She mumbled in agreement. Lucy opened her eyes and found his looking back. She suddenly felt tears form in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" He shifted his hands so they wrapped around her.  
She shook her head unable to get words past the lump in throat. She pressed her face into his chest and heard his heartbeat and it helped the lump dissolve  
"Lucy, why are you crying?"  
A sound that was half a laugh, half a sob escaped her throat. She hugged him tears still running down her cheeks. "Because I'm happy. I'm so incredibly happy right now words can't even start to express how I fell." She said quietly.

"I think I know how you feel…and," Natsu pulled back gently looking deeply into her eyes, "I think I know to express it to you." He leaned down slowly and without even thinking Lucy got on her tiptoes. They kissed and world melted away. It was slow and sensual kiss that make Lucy's hair stand on end and Natsu's heart race. The last notes of the songs had long died away when they finally broke part, but they won't listening to the radio anymore. Lucy hugged Natsu tightly.  
"I love you, so much." She said. Natsu held her even tighter.  
"I know. I love you and always will."

* * *

I was originally going to end this chapter at the point where Erza says '_May god help Gray and Juvia.'_ but I figured since I took so long to upload this chapter I should write a little more.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	17. Chapter 17

Alright, this a simple chapter, nothing major. Honestly it is more of a set up for that is coming in the next chapters, But i don't think you will be disappointed with it.

* * *

When Lucy woke up she first thing she noticed was she wasn't in her room. The very next thing she noticed that her head was in Natsu's lap. Red bloomed across her face and she shot up. Natsu jumped at her sudden moment.  
"Morning," He said grinning at her. Lucy looked around slowly taking in the patio and beach. The sky was now turning pink and red indicating the imminent sunrise.  
"When did I fall asleep?" She asked brushing her hair back.  
"Sometime after we make those sundaes."  
"Oh right," Lucy nodded.

She remembered they had been sitting listening to the radio when Natsu suddenly complained he was hungry. The two had raided the fridge making sundaes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. She also remembered while making the sundaes Natsu had accidentally sprayed her in the face with the readdi-wip. She then 'not so accidentally' threw chocolate syrup at him. He retaliated and it ended up with more whip cream and chocolate ending on them than on the ice cream. She blushed remembering how they had cleaned off the sugary substances.

"I'm going to take a shower before the others wake up," Lucy kissed him lightly. He grinned against her lips.  
"You still taste like chocolate and whip cream," He said kissing her neck.  
"Natsu," She pushed him off playfully.  
"What? I'm hungry."  
"If you're hungry go make some breakfast."  
"But you taste so much better," He leaned closer leaving a trail of kisses along her neck and jaw.  
"Stop it," She giggled standing and retreated out of his reach. He pouted at her making her laugh again. "I'll see you in a little bit." She blew him a kiss. Thankfully Erza and Levy won't up when she back to her room. Levy was hugging her grey dragon mumbling something. Lucy walked closer to her and almost burst out laughing when she realized she was mumbling Gajeel's name. Unable to resist she got her phone and taped some.  
"That will be good blackmail," She said giggling to herself.

She showered, got dressed and waited for Erza and Levy to get up waiting out on the balcony. It took awhile for them to get up. While waiting she could hear the others in the house getting up and moving around. A whistle made her look down. Natsu waved up at her eagerly.  
"Come on down! Mira's got breakfast going!" He yelled up.  
"I'm waiting on Levy and Erza," She called as loud as she dared to avoid waking the two.

"Natsu! Stop yelling your head off! You'll wake the whole house!" Gray shouted walking outside.  
"You're yelling louder than me!" Natsu yelled back.  
"No I'm not!"  
"You so are!"  
"Both of you are will wake up the house!" Gajeel called from somewhere inside.  
Gray grabbed Natsu but let go almost instantly. "Dude your sink is all sticky, we're did you sleep last night? You should take a shower." Gray said wiping his hands on his shorts.  
"You should go bathe!"  
"I already had a bath idiot!"  
"Well you smell like you could use another one!"

"Boys," Lucy called making them both glance up, "I can wake Erza." She said. Horror appeared on both their faces.  
"No, no! I'll go bathe!" Natsu disappeared inside.  
"Don't wake Erza!"  
"I why shouldn't she wake me?" Erza appeared next to Lucy. Gray dashed back inside.  
"I didn't wake you, did I?" Lucy asked. Erza shook her head.  
"You woke me," Levy called from inside. She was covering her head with her pillow.

"Then you might as well get out of bed," said Erza. Levy sat up and frowned.  
"And I was having a really good dream too."  
Lucy couldn't suppress her smile. "I can imagine." She winked at Levy and the girl gave her a confused look.  
"What are you talking?" She asked avoiding Lucy's eyes.  
"You're dream wouldn't have anything to do with a certain black haired, jeep driving boy."  
Levy's eyes grew wide, "N-no!"

"You sure?" Lucy causally took out her phone and quickly played what she taped earlier. Levy's eyes grew even wider.  
"Delete that now."  
"Why? You sound so cute. I think Gajeel might want to hear."  
"If Gajeel hears that, then Natsu will here this." Levy had taken up her own phone. Lucy's jaw dropped when she heard her voice saying Natsu's name along with some very…unintelligent sounds.  
"When did you…"  
"The night after your date." Levy grinned at her. Lucy jumped at Levy trying to grab her phone. Levy managed to hold it out of her reach. At the same time Levy tried at to grab Lucy's phone.  
"So you talk in your sleep, it's no big deal." Erza said shaking her head at the foolishness of her friends. Both Levy and Lucy stopped their scramble and looked at her.  
"Oh really?" Lucy asked.  
"So you won't mind if Jellal hears this?" Levy pressed a button on her phone. Lucy did the same with her phone. Two different, yet very similar tracks began playing. Erza paled. She glanced between the grinning faces off Lucy and Levy.

"You two are as evil as Mira," Erza said evenly.  
"I won't go that far," Lucy said.  
"I'm only going to ask you once to delete that." She was keeping oddly calm.  
"You didn't say please," Levy said playfully. Erza didn't have time for playful. She leapt at the two from across the room. They dived out of the way.  
"Give it!" Erza leapt again.  
"Alright we'll delete it!" Lucy said holding up her hands in surrender.  
"We'll even let you delete it." Levy added quickly handing over her phone. Lucy did the same. Erza took both phones quickly deleting the tracks. She threw back the phones.  
"I deleted the other ones too." She said. Lucy and Levy 'awwed' in disappointment.

"Just as well I guess, It's not like I would ever actually use it." Levy said.  
"Yeah same here." Lucy tossed her phone aside. Erza and Levy both dressed and the three of them headed downstairs. Natsu was half way down the stairs and stopped to wait on them. He kissed Lucy quickly.  
"No more whipped cream taste," He teased.  
"Whipped cream?" Erza and Levy asked together.  
"Breakfast smells good doesn't it?" Lucy said quickly ignoring the question. She hurried into the kitchen followed by Natsu. Erza and Levy shared a look before following.

On the menu today was waffles, much to Natsu' delight. He took a huge stack and poured way too much maple syrup on top.  
"Ra fallvles way rood ira." (_The waffles taste good Mira) _Natsu said through a mouthful. Mira smiled at him.  
"Thank you."  
"You understood that?" Lucy asked.  
"No," She admitted, "But the only time someone speaks through such a big a mouthful is to compliment the chef."  
"I agree with Natsu, these taste great." Cana said raising her glass to Mira, "But you know what will make this really good, some berries and whipped cream on top."  
"I think we have some in the fridge," Lisanna opened the fridge door and took out a blow of blue berries and the whipped cream. Cana threw a handful of the berries on her waffle and grabbed the whipped cream. She pressed the nozzle a bit spluttered out. She shook it and tired again.  
"Is this thing empty?" Cana asked.  
"Can't be, I bought that this week." Mira said. Natsu and Lucy froze for a second then both started shoving waffles into their mouths quickly.  
"Has anyone used the whipped cream?" Mira asked. Lucy and Natsu shoved more waffles into their mouths.  
"Natsu said something about whipped cream just now." Erza said.  
"No I didn't," Natsu said quickly. "Didn't say anything about whipped cream or chocolate."

Lucy kicked him in the shin.  
"You didn't mention chocolate before." Levy said. "You kissed Lucy then said that she didn't…oh," Levy started giggling as she put two and two together.  
"What did you use an entire can of whipped cream on?" Erza asked.  
"We made some sundaes late night," Lucy muttered.  
"And used all the whipped cream?" Mira asked. Natsu and Lucy turned red.  
"Wait, Gray said Natsu's skin was sticky this morning," Gajeel said, "Won't whipped cream and chocolate make…"

Natsu kicked the stool Gajeel was sitting in causing it to topple over, taking Gajeel down with it.  
"My skin wasn't sticky." Natsu said.  
"Ask Gray. He was the one who told you to go bathe." Gajeel looked around the room but couldn't find the boy. "Oie! Gray!" He called out. A faint pounding reached their ears.  
"What was that?" Lucy asked.  
"I'm sure it was nothing," Mira said in an innocent voice. Erza, Levy, Lucy and Cana all shared a look when they heard that voice. That voice plus Mira equals not good.  
"There it is again," Wendy said when the pounding started up again.  
"It sounds like it's coming from the pantry." Laxus said.  
"No it doesn't," Mira said quickly.

Laxus stood and walked over the pantry door and found the handles were tied together with a cloth, keeping it closed. He untied it and the doors swung open. Gray and Juvia tumbled out.  
"Thank god, I thought we were going to be stuck in there forever." Gray said.

"Gray? Juvia? How did you get stuck in there in the first place?" Max asked.  
"Not really sure. I heard Juvia calling out and opened the door, next thing I know I'm inside and the doors are shut and I can't open them."  
"Well what happen?" Mira asked eagerly.  
"What do mean? We were stuck in there."  
"I mean between you and Juvia," Mira said a little impatiently. Gray looked towards the ceiling. Juvia blushed and looked at her feet.  
"Nothing!" They said together.  
"I-I have to go." Juvia ran outside.  
"Juvia wait," Gray called after her, "Damn it."  
"What's up with her?" Gajeel asked. Gray sighed.  
"We…we, uh, kissed sort of."  
"WHAT!" Everyone yelled at the same time. Gray flinched.  
"You kissed!" Mira looked like Christmas had come early.  
"Well, not really."

"Did you or didn't you?" Natsu asked.  
"It's complicated."  
"Spill already," Gajeel said when he didn't continue.  
"Yeah, don't leave us hanging." Cana said.  
"Ah, well we going to kiss, I think. I mean we were stuck in there a while and it was boring and we were really close together. I started to lean forward and…" he trailed off  
"AND?!" Everyone asked.  
"And she started to hyperventilate and fainted. She can't like me, if she faints when she thinks I'm going to kiss her."

Everyone face palmed themselves.  
"Are you an idiot?" Natsu asked.  
"Of course she likes you, that's why she faints around you." Cana said hitting him on the back of the head.  
"Juvia likes me?" This made everyone groan and face palm themselves again.  
"Go get her," Mira said pointing outside.  
"What?"  
"GO!" Everyone yelled together. Gray jumped and ran outside in the direction Juvia had gone. It took him a while to find her, it probably by pure chance he spotted her sitting out on a rock in the sea. He swam out climbing on the rock next to her. She didn't say anything but turned away from him.  
"Ah, Juvia…are you okay?" He asked placing a hand on her back.  
"Yes,"  
"It just…you didn't seem to okay…I'm mean…am...I didn't mean to alarm you or anything back there…when we were in the pantry," He waited for a response but didn't get any.  
"Ah, listen Juvia," He struggled to find the right words, "The guys said that you…agh, I didn't know that you…" He sighed and ran a hand though his hair. "I'm not really sure what to say here. I guess now that I think about it should have been obvious to me that you…you know. Well maybe I think I knew, but didn't know how to act. A girl never 'liked' me before, not the way you do."

Juvia shifted slightly and glanced at him. Gray looked at her, she blushed and looked away.  
"It's okay if you don't like me…"  
"But that's just it, I do like you."  
"You're just saying that."  
"No, I'm not. I mean it."

Juvia turned around so fast she fell into the water.  
"Juvia! Are you alright?" Gray reached his hand for hers and pulled her back out of the water.  
"D-do you really like me?"  
"Yeah, you're the coolest girl I know." Juvia tackled hugged Gray sending them both into the water. Her lips found his sometime in the second they were in the air.  
"Juvia is so happy!" She said practically crying.  
"Gr-great, b-but I need to breath." Gray rasped out.  
"Oh," Juvia let go blushing, "Sorry."  
Gray smiled at her, "It's fine. Let's head back to Fairy Tail. We haven't even have breakfast, you must be hungry."  
When they got back they were bombarded with questions. Mira looked ready to faint with happiness. Juvia kept breaking down into random crying fits yelling how her heart's desire was fulfilled. Gray was getting picked on by the other guys for having to take so long. It was light and cheery mood in Fairy Tail that morning.

They really didn't have any big plans that day so mostly they hung around the house. Gray and Juvia went for a walk on the beach. Wendy and Romeo were working on their sand castle and Bisca and Alzack were helping them. Natsu, Gajeel, Laxus, Fried and Bixlow were playing pool. Lucy and Levy had curled up with books. The others were around somewhere, just lazing.

"So what did you and Natsu do with the whipped cream and chocolate?" Levy asked suddenly remembering the conversation earlier.  
"We just made sundaes," Lucy holding her book over her face.  
"We both know that isn't true," Levy grinned at her. Lucy mumbled something. She was saved in that moment by someone entering the room.

"Morning Fairy Tail," Jellal walked in through the back door drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He walked over the couch Erza was sitting on and leaning over the back kissed her on the cheek.  
"What are you doing tonight?" He asked.  
"Tonight? Nothing really."  
"Great, I friend of mine is opening a club in town and I was hoping you would want to come."  
"It sounds great." Erza said smiling.  
"Cool, and everyone is invited." He said standing up. "The more people who show up the better."  
"A club opening? Is it Time Turner?" Laxus asked leaning on his billiard cue.  
"That's the one," Jellal said with a nod.  
"It sounds fun, we should all go." Cana said. "I night out on town, I wonder…hey Jellal are there going to be any drinking competitions?"  
"Ah, I'm not sure. Could be."  
"Okay we are going for sure." Cana said. A few people chuckled at this. No one notice the bushes outside rustling, that is expect Natsu. He nudged Gajeel and jerked his chin in the direction. Gajeel flowed his gaze and narrowed his eyes. He glanced back at Natsu and nodded. Both boys grabbed a ball of the pool table and threw it into the bushes. The sudden movement drew everybody's attention.

"What was that about?" Bixlow asked. In response two boys crawled out of the bushed. One of clutching his head the other had a hand over his eye. Everyone instantly recognized them as two of Sage's lackeys. Natsu and Gajeel got to them first and pulled them to their feet.  
"What are you doing here?" Gajeel asked in his gruffest voice, glaring at the two. They gulped and tried to hide behind each other. Natsu pulled something from one of the boy's hands.  
"A smoke bomb?" He turned in over in his hands. "This is the best you could come up with? Tell Sage if he wants to try to pull one over on us he should come himself." By now the others were outside too all glaring at the two.

He pushed the canister back in the boy's arms and pushed him away. They turned tail and ran. "Give him our regards." Natsu called after them.

"How did you spot them?" Lucy asked.  
"Eh, they didn't make it too hard. They were noisy and not very stealthy." Natsu said dismissing it with a casual wave of his hand.  
"You nailed them though. I swear I saw a black eye forming on one." Erza said. Gajeel laughed and reached into the bushes taking out the two pool balls.  
"It's just what we do," He said with a sly grin.

"You didn't get to throw the smoke bomb?" Sage asked.  
"Sorry Sage. It was that Natsu, he spotted us." One said.  
"But we did find out where they are going tonight." said the other. "The new club opening, Time Turner."  
"Really? Are they all going?"  
"It sounded like that."  
"Boys, looks like we get to have our big _party_ earlier than we expected." Sage said grinning at the boys around. They started cheering and pounding their feet on the ground. "I can't wait for Fairy Tail to see what we have planned."

* * *

The next chapter will be really fun, a lot of shipping fluff and I'm working on a way to try and incorporate music, more than just writing the lyrics in the chapter or having you guys pull up the songs on youtube. I am planning on using youtube but taking a bit further, in a way that's easier for you guys instead you searching for a bunch of songs. After all we're going to a club and there is a lot of music in a club.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	18. Chapter 18

I made a playlist for the club, but I should let you know i have never been a club of any kind so I have zero idea as to the kind of music that be played in one so i used songs that I like and you could dance to. With the exception of Wonderland it doesn't matter to me the order you listen to the songs.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot the playlist link. (www. youtube playlist?list=PLwttIWiZWz6Cdc4iziP0QI2ytiLNews0L)

* * *

"You're leaving me to babysit?" Makarov said folding his hands.  
"We're not babies!" Romeo complained.  
"It's only for the night gramps," Laxus said, "We're all going out."  
"Don't stay out too late."  
"We make no promises." Laxus looked in the hall mirror fixing his cuffs  
Makarov raised his eyebrows.  
"Don't worry we'll be home before sun rise." He grinned back at him from the mirror but his grandfather only deepened his scowl.  
"You don't have to worry," Cana said patting the old man on his head, "I'll make sure he doesn't get in any trouble."  
"That doesn't make me feel any better coming from you."  
Laxus laughed at Cana's comment. "Like you could keep yourself out of trouble."

"Keep out of trouble? No one in Fairy Tail can keep their noses clean for too long, but we all have a knack for getting out of trouble."  
"Now that I agree with."

The front door opened and Jellal walked in. "Hey guys, are you all ready?"  
"Still waiting on a few people." Erza said walking in from the kitchen. Jellal's jaw dropped when he saw her outfit. A black skirt that border the 'too short' line and a white halter top with knee high boots.

"Jellal?" She snapped her fingers in his face. He shook his head. He took a few steps and walked into a side table, almost knocking a lamp over.  
"Ah, you…am…I'll wait outside." He turned and walked right into the door frame.

"Desired effect achieved," Mira said next to Erza. She smiled.  
"I'll say so."  
She wasn't the only one who had gone all out for the night. Everyone had put on their best outfits.  
Levy was a flirty blue dress that stopped a few inches above the knee but even in her high heels she was still the shortest person in the room, safe for Wendy and Makarov.  
Lucy had on a pink cold shoulder top that showed her midriff with a black skirt and black suede boots.  
The girls either had on dresses or skirts (none of which past the knee).  
The guys had all shirts, some with waistcoat or jackets.

"Who are we still waiting on?" Laxus asked.  
"Ever, Bisca and Gajeel, Natsu and Gray." Levy answered.  
"Gajeel, Natsu and Gray? Aren't girls the ones who take long to get dressed?"  
"Hey, stereotypes hurt!" Cana said.

Just then Evergreen and Bisca appeared on the steps.  
"Now it's just the guys," Lucy said. They waited five more minutes.  
"Stop curling you're hair already! Everyone is ready to leave!" Laxus yelled upstairs.  
"WE'RE COMING!" Natsu called back. A moment later they were at the foot of the stairs.  
Gray was wearing a white shirt with light blue lining along the hems. Gajeel was wearing a black jacket open at the chest and had a white t-shirt inside.  
"What do think?" Natsu asked Lucy holding his arms out so she could see his outfit. He had a gray blazer over a white and black stripped shirt with black pants.

She gave him a quick glance over and smiled, beckoning him with a finger. He walked over and she straightened out his blazer for him.  
"You look pretty darn good," She gripped his blaze and pulled him down for a kiss.  
"There will be dark corners in the club for you to do that," Gajeel said.  
"Couldn't you have said that another way?" Levy asked.  
"Maybe, but I'm more concerned that if we don't leave soon I won't be able to find a dark corner for us."  
She hit him on his chest even thought there a bright blush on her face.  
"Let's roll, while the night is still young." Max said.

They all got into their designated vehicles. Wendy and Romeo waved goodbye from the front door.  
"Man, I wish we were old enough to go." Romeo said with a huff.  
"It's okay, we can have fun on our own." Wendy said smiling at him. Romeo found himself blushing.  
"Yeah, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair.

In town Time Turner had drawn quite a crowd. There was line going around the block to get in.  
"Man, how are we going to get in?" Jet asked stretching his head to try and see the end of the line.  
"You're with me, remember," Jellal said. He walked up to the bouncer.  
"Name?"  
"Jellal Fernandes, and these guys are with me."  
"All of them?"  
"Yep, is there a problem."  
"No, go right ahead Mr. Fernandes. The boss already said you'll be coming with a big group." He removed the rope and allowed them to go in. The inside, despite being huge was full of people. The main dance floor was a large circle, about three feet below the normal floor level. The club itself was designed with several tiers, the dance floor being the largest and lowest. One side rose to the bar, the other to a number of tables and booths. At the back on the highest platform was the DJ. There were multicolored strobe and laser lights throughout the room.

"This place is awesome!" Cana said, "I'm hitting the bar!" She disappeared into the crowd.  
"I love this song," Vijeeter said already moving to the music, he made his way to the dance floor with a few of the others.  
"Hey, there's my friend, the owner." He waved and they saw a girl wave back, "Let's go say hello."  
"You're friend is a girl?" Erza asked. Jellal didn't have time to answer because said girl had just hugged him.  
"Jellal, I'm so happy you could make it." She said.  
"Thank Ultear, glad I could come. Looks like your opening is success." He said indicating to the crowded room.  
"I know, I never could have imagined it being this popular."  
Erza cleared her throat loudly.  
"Oh, right," Jellal said, "Where are my manners. Ultear this is –"  
"Erza, Jellal's girlfriend." Erza interrupted extending her hand for Ultear.  
"Someone's jealous," Lucy whispered to Levy. Levy was trying to suppress her laughter.

"So you're Erza. Jellal's told me a lot about you." She said smiling.  
"Really, because I've heard nothing about you." Erza said looking at Jellal. He was pulling at the collar of his shirt.  
"I'll set you and you're friends up with a couple of private booths."  
"Thanks we would love that…"  
"Jellal let's go dance," Erza said and without waiting for a response she took his hand and pulled him towards the dance floor. Their small group watched the two in mild amusement. Ultear shook her head with a laugh.  
"That Jellal, when will he ever learn," She turned towards the others, "If you need anything just ask for me."  
"Will do, thanks." Gray said giving her thumbs up. She nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

"Well, what are we waiting on, let's dance." Mira said. They all headed to the dance floor. The music was pounding and everyone was jumping to the beat. Vijeeter had practically taking over the dance floor, there was a space around were everyone was watching him dance.  
"Look at him go," Lisanna said clapping with everyone. He was moving easily with the music, flipping and twisting. He flipped into a head stand bouncing on his hands then rolled over and began spinning on his head. A cheer rose from the crowd.

The others were dancing too, although not as well. Lucy and Natsu had been dancing for a few songs when he asked her if she wanted to go get something to drink. She nodded needing a break. Holding hands so they won't get separated in the crowd they made their way to the bar.

"A Madagascar martini and Milky Way, with extra pepper in the Madagascar." Natsu said to the bartender. While waiting they noticed Cana a little way down the bar. Laxus walked up to her tapping her on the shoulder.  
"Come on, you're not spending the entire night at the bar."  
"And whose going to make me leave?"  
"I am,"  
"I'd like to see you try."  
Laxus easily lifted her off her feet and carried her to the dance floor. Cana didn't seem in a hurry to protest.

The bartender handed Lucy and Natsu their drinks. One was cream colored the other was translucent with a greenish tint to it and the glass was garnished chilli. Natsu downed his in a few gulps and bit into the pepper. Lucy couldn't help but shake her head as she drank hers. She was halfway done when the song changed. She gasped and placed her glass down.  
"Wonderland, I love this song. Come on, let's dance." She jumped to her feet and pulled Natsu with her.  
"But we just stopped,"

She gave him her best puppy dog eyes. He groaned and followed her to the dance floor. He pulled her close to him as they danced. Lucy caught glimpses of the others dancing. Levy and Gajeel, Gray and Juvia, Erza and Jellal, Mira and Fried, Bisca and Alzack but she only concentrated on Natsu. They moved together, barely leaving any space between them. She felt the heat of his hands against her sikn. She turned in his hands so her back was to his chest. His hands slid across her midriff and down her sides. She lifted her hands running them thought his hair. She could felt his breath against her neck and it made her hair stand on end.

He turned her in his arms and leaned down capturing her lips. The world faded away. The club, the other dancers, the music it all ceased to exist. They pressed as close as physically possible staying like that until the need for air forced apart.  
"Maybe…we should…sit." Natsu said between breaths.  
"Good idea."  
They went over to the booths and found Nab and Warren sitting with a pair of twins. Natsu mouthed good luck to them and he and Lucy slid into the next booth. The booths were long and circular in shape and the table had the club's logo (an elongated clock) on it.

"I can't remember the last time I danced this much," Lucy said slipping her feet out of her shoes. She folded her feet onto the seat and rubbed her instep. Without a word Natsu took her feet and started messaging them.  
"You don't have to do that," She paused for a moment, "But don't stop. Remind me to have you rub my feet more often." She said leaning back against the seat. She couldn't help but let out a moan.

"Geez Lucy, can't you be quieter? If people heard you they might think something else." Levy said sliding in next to her. Gajeel laughed as he sat down on the other side. Lucy stuck her tongue out.  
"I don't care, it feels too good."  
"Again if someone heard that they might think of something else."  
"Who might think what?" Gray asked walking up with Juvia.  
"That Lucy and Natsu are having sex." Gajeel said.  
What?!" Gray and Juvia said together.  
"I'm just rubbing her feet." Natsu said.  
"What kind of weird position is that?" Gray asked earning him a kick from Natsu. "OW! Geez, it's a joke!"  
"Aren't jokes supposed to be funny?" Natsu said.  
"That was funny so screw you."  
"Well apparently Lucy is already is doing that." Gajeel said making everyone except Natsu and Lucy laugh. Natsu stopped rubbing her feet and she put her shoes back on.  
"Oh lighten up, you have to admit it was funny." Levy said nudging Lucy with her shoulder.  
"Okay, maybe a little bit," She said trying to hide her smile with an eye roll. "I'm going to the washroom, you coming?" She asked Levy and Juvia. They both nodded.  
"We'll back in a moment," They kissed the boys on their cheeks and stood up. After a few minutes Alzack appeared and grabbed a seat.

"Where's Bisca?" Gray asked.  
"She went to the washroom a little while ago." He said. The four sat down chatting. It wasn't until the song had changed for the third time Natsu noticed something was off.  
"Shouldn't the girls be back by now?" He asked.  
"Now that you mention it," Gray glanced at his watch, "It's been almost ten minutes."  
"It wouldn't take them that long would it?" Gajeel asked looked around to see he might spot them in the crowd. Just then Laxus appeared at the table with two drinks in his hand.  
"Hey, have you seen Cana, I went to get some drinks but she wasn't where I left her. That was twenty minutes ago." He said.  
"Cana too?" Natsu said.  
"What do mean 'Cana too'?"  
"Lucy, Levy, Juvia and Bisca went to the washroom a while ago and haven't come back yet." Gray explained.  
"Maybe we're rushing here, there could just be line at the washroom." Alzack said.  
"I want to go check," Natsu said standing up.  
"I'll come with you," said Gray. The two found the washrooms but there wasn't any line. Natsu stopped a girl as she was coming out.  
"Sorry to disturb you but can you tell us if there is group of girls in there. A blonde, two with blue hair and maybe one with green.  
"Nope, no one with that description."

Natsu and Gray shared a look and made their way back the table. The moment the others saw them coming back alone they all got to their feet. Gajeel pulled his phone and called Levy.  
"She isn't answering," He said after the fifth ring. Natsu and Gray tried calling too but got the same results. Alzack went over to the next table where Nab and Warren were.  
"When's the last time you saw the girls?" He asked.  
"Which girl?"  
"Any one."  
"We saw Lucy with Natsu, but we've been here for a while." Warren said.  
"Why is something wrong?" Max asked.  
"We can't find them."  
"Sorry ladies, we'll have to continue this another time. Our friends need us." Max told the twins. The stood and joined the other boys who were all trying their phones again.

"She's not picking up. She always picks up my calls." Natsu said. "Something happened."  
"We don't know that for sure, let's find the others and see if they've seen them." Gray said. They split up and made their way through the crowd looking for any sign of the girls. Gajeel and Laxus ran into Elfman, Fried and Bixlow.  
"Where are your sisters?" Gajeel asked.  
"I haven't seen them in a while. About half an hour ago."  
"What about Ever?" Laxus asked.  
"Same thing." He answered.  
"We just thought they were with the other girls." Fried said.  
"Maybe, only we don't know where the other girls are." Gajeel said.  
"What?" The three cried together.  
"Who's missing?" Bislow asked.  
"At this point we're not sure. We thought it was just five at first." Laxus said a scowl forming on his face.

Jet, Droy, Alzack and Max appeared from the crowd.  
"We can't find Laki either." Max said.  
"Okay something's wrong here." Gajeel said. He called Natsu's cell, "Hey can't find Laki either. It seems like every girl except Erza is missing."

Natsu and Gray were across the room. Natsu told Gray about Laki.  
"Natsu, Gray!" A voice made them turn. Jellal walked towards them. "Is Erza with you guys?"  
"Gajeel you can forget that 'expect Erza' part." Natsu said into the phone. "Meet us outside." He hung up.  
"When did you last see Erza?" Gray asked.  
"Twenty, thirty minutes give or take. Why?"  
"We can't find any of the girls." Natsu said.  
"Are you serious?"  
"Unfortunately. Let's go meet the other guys and try and figure this out."

The three headed outside where the others Fairy Tail boys already were.  
"No one's answering their phones!" Gajeel threw down his cell cracking the screen.  
"This isn't a coincident." Jellal said.  
"No duh, but what the hell happened to them." Laxus said. "We don't even have a clue as to what happened."

Natsu's cell vibrated. He looked at screen and gasped.  
"It's text from Lucy!" He said. As he pressed the button everyone crowed around him pressing in from all sides. "Guys! Some space I'm not even sure where my arm is." He yelled out. They all took a few steps back. Natsu glanced at the screen and his blood ran cold. The phone dropped from his hand and he swayed on the spot. Gray and Gajeel caught him before he fell.

"Dude what is it?" Gray asked.  
"L-Lucy…"  
Jellal picked up the phone and swore. He turned the phone so the others could see and several more obscenities escaped the mouths of the boys.

On the screen was a single picture. A picture of the girls tied up and unconscious.

* * *

So that happened.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	19. Chapter 19

I feel so stupid. After making the playlist for the last chapter I forgot to give you the link. If you read the chapter a few hours after I post it you might have missed it. I'm so sorry.

Although right now you probably don't care about the playlist, so I'm going to shut up about my mistake and get to the chapter.

* * *

The phone passed through everyone's hand twice yet no one wanted to believe it was real.  
"Who could have –"  
"Come on Jet, we know who did this." Gray said.  
"When I find Sage I'm going to send my fist through that smug head of his." Gajeel said.  
"You're going to be punching ashes, because I'm going to burn him and all his friends to the ground." Natsu said with a snarl.  
"Guys, wait is that Wendy?" Max said suddenly. Everyone grabbed for the phone again. Just visible in the corner of the image was the small figure of Wendy.  
"That's impossible she's supposed to be home." Gray said. Laxus was already on his phone.  
"Gramps isn't picking up." He said. "We have to go home now!"

They all scrambled to the cars.  
"Max, Jet you're bikes will be able to get through the traffic the fastest go ahead and find out what happened to gramps and Romeo." Laxus said to the two. They nodded and pulled out weaving in between the traffic quickly moving up the road. The others were forced to wait in traffic where the only thing they could do was honk their horns.

"GET OFF THE FREKING ROAD! I COULD WALK FASTER THAN THAT!" Gajeel yelled out. Right behind him was Gray and Natsu. Gray was gripping the steering so hard his knuckled were white. Natsu was fidgeting unable to stop.  
"How could he have done this?" Natsu said.

_Inside Time Turner, forty five minutes ago._

Mira had lost Fried in the crowd and was looking for him. She turned and saw the white hair that could only belong to her sister. She was sitting at a table with Evergreen and two boys Mira didn't recognise. Curious she walked over. Lisanna caught her eyes, shot her a terrified looked and shook her head. Mira didn't have time to get confused when she felt someone pressed against her from behind. She stiffened when she felt the cold sting of metal against her back.

"My bubbies have got pocket knives just like this one against your pretty friends. If you don't want it to end up inside them you're going to come with me very quietly." A voice said in her ear. She thought about elbowing him in the gut but there was no way she would be able to get to Lisanna and Evergreen in time. She was forced to follow behind the other girls as they were pushed to the exit.

Around the same time in another part of the club two boys sat down on either side of Cana a few moments after Laxus left to get them drinks. Two more stood in front of her.  
"Can I help you?" She asked.  
"I think your friends needs the help." A fifth and sixth boy appeared and they were supporting Laki and Bisca. Cana jumped to her feet.  
"What happened?" She asked. The boys let Laki and Bisca go causing all of the girls weight to fall on Cana. She wasn't prepared for the sudden weight and buckled at her knees, the unconscious girls pinning her down. Cana was too concerned with trying to wake them up to notice the way the boys closed in around her, blocking anyone from seeing them.  
"They had a bit too much to drink." The boy said. Cana knew that wasn't true, Laki and Bisca would be the last persons to get wasted. The boy continued. "Or at least that's what we're going to tell bouncer if he askes what happened to the two of them."  
"What?"  
"Sorry, I meant to say what happened to the three of you."

Cana hadn't even processed the sentence properly when she felt the cold rag over her mouth and nose. A strong chemical smell burned her nostrils and she went limp.  
"Let's get them out of here." They lifted the three girls between them and made a 'B' line to the exit.  
As they were passing the bar Erza noticed them walking past. She went after them and placed her hand on the guys carrying Cana.  
"What are you doing?" She asked. In response two boys appeared on either side of her. One pressed a knife against her skin.  
"Let's not make a scene or the Bloody Mary's won't be the only red you see tonight." One told Erza. She twisted quickly and stepped on his foot, the knife cut into her side but it only stopped her for a second. She punched the other boy in his gut.  
"Not so fast," The one holding Cana said. He shifted his hand and Erza saw metal glint for a second. "You may not care if a knife cuts into you, but what about your friends?"

Erza dropped her hands to her side.  
"I thought so," He grinned at her. The boys still kept a firm grip on her though. Erza took some small comfort in the fact the one whose foot she had stepped on was limping. As they were going out the door one of the boys put his arm around her and held her close against him hiding her cut from view.

"What happened to those three?" The bouncer asked.  
"Totally wasted. Girls can't hold their alcohol, what ya' going to do?"  
Anger swelled inside Erza at the blatant lie. She knew if she was ever going to get help she had to say something now. She opened her mouth but a hand dug into her cut, opening it wider. Pain shot through her and she doubled over.  
"We're almost to the car honey, don't worry" One of the boys told her. She didn't say anything but swore the first chance she had she was going to beat the shit out of these guys.

Lucy, Levy and Juvia had just walked down the hall to the washroom when someone appeared from behind a pillar forcing them to stop.  
"Hey babe," Sage said grinning.  
"Oh, not you again. Didn't you get enough punishment back at the haunted house?" Levy said bitterly.  
"I just wanted to extend an invitation to you and your friends to a _party_ we're having tonight."  
"I think we'll pass." Lucy said.  
"See, that's just the thing, you really don't have a choice."

"Lucy!"  
Lucy turned and found Levy and Juvia being held by Harris and Mitch.  
"Now, you're going to coming with us or something might happen to your friends."  
"Sage, don't hurt them. I'll go with you, just leave them."  
"Sorry babe not part of the plan." Sage grabbed Lucy and spun her around. "Now be good," He whispered in her ear and pressed a knife to her back, "Or I'll have to rip this sexy top you're wearing." He pushed her towards the exit. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Levy and Juvia. They walked outside without anyone questioning them and made their way around the block. They pushed them into an alley where a van was parked.  
"Alright Sage, what do you want?" Lucy asked.

"You'll see in due time, but first you should join your friends." Sage nodded and Mitch opened the back doors to the van. Piled together in the back were the girls, tied up and unconscious.  
"What did you do to them?" Lucy yelled. She, Levy and Juvia ran to the girls trying to wake them.  
"Same thing we're going to you."

Three of Sage's lackeys grabbed them and placed rags over their mouths and noses. Lucy tried to hold her breath but she still had inhaled some and her vision was already blurring. She saw Levy and Juvia go limp out of the corner of her eye. Thinking quickly she stepped on the foot of the guy holding her and elbowed him in the gut. He let her go with a yelp. Lucy stumbled forward her steps wobbling. Unable to keep her balance she fell to her knees. She looked up at Sage who had a wicked grin on his face.  
"Natsu will find you, no matter where you take us." She said. He kneeled down and gripped her chin in his hand.  
"I'm counting on it." He held a rag to her face and she lost consciousness.

"Shit!" The boy whose foot Lucy had stepped on was hopping up and down. "First the red head now Lucy."  
"Put her with the rest; let's go get the little one." Sage said and climbed into the passenger seat of the van. Mitch got behind the wheel.  
"Sage, are you sure about this? I mean this is way beyond a normal prank. We could get in serious trouble for this." He asked. Sage glared at him.  
"You're going to go soft on me now? After we took them?" He spat out.  
"I'm just saying we committing a crime here."  
"Those Fairy bums are never going to call the cops they'll come after us themselves," Sage said with a laugh, "And so what if they do? Father has the best legal team in the country. They could get us off murder."  
"You mean they'll get you off. Are your daddy's lawyers going to represent all of us if this thing goes south?"  
"Why are you talking about? They will never call the cops, so forget it."  
"Sage –"  
"Dude, Shut up and drive before the chloroform wears off!"

Mitch jumped a little and started the van pulling out on the road. Behind them another van with the rest of Sage's crew followed.  
"And I don't get what with the change all of sudden." Sage continued. "Don't you want to get them back for the haunted house?"  
"Yes, but –"  
"They embarrassed us in front of the entire carnival."  
"I know that."  
"We were the laughing stock of the beach."  
"Yeah. But did we have to go this drastic?"  
"Yes, 'cause when we're done Fairy Tail will know to never go up against me again."  
"Whatever Sage." Mitch said. They drove in silence until the pulled up into the Fairy Tail drive way. Sage peered out through the windshield at the house.

"I don't get why anyone will what to say in a dump like this." He said.  
"Let's just get the girl and get out of here." Mitch said getting out of the van. The boys got out of the other van.  
"Let's find out whose home." Sage pressed down on the horn letting it blear continuously. Two of the biggest boys stood on either side of the door way with baseball bats. Makarov opened the door and walked outside.  
"What's your problem? Waking up half the neighbourhood?" He asked. The boys started laughing.  
"What's so funny?"  
"Here we were expecting someone bigger. You're the one they left in charge of the kids? This is too easy." Sage said.  
"Wh –" The boy behind hit him in the back of the head and he toppled forward. The group walked inside lead by Sage.

"Gramps what was the nois…" Romeo trailed off when he saw Sage. "You!" He jumped up. "You better leave or I'll be forced to hurt you."  
The boys laughed.  
"Grab the girl." Sage said. Romeo placed himself in front Wendy.  
"You'll have to go through me first." He said lifting his fist.  
"Alright." One of the boys easily lifted him off the feet. Romeo tried to kick him but it didn't do any good. Two more held down Wendy and tied her up. They tossed over her over their shoulder and carried her outside.  
"No! Let her go!" Romeo kicked again.  
"Knock the brat out." Sage said and the boy punched Romeo across the jaw and he went limp. He let him drop to the floor. Sage walked back the van and grabbed Lucy's purse taking out her phone. He took a picture of the girls.  
"Would you look at that? Natsu's her first speed dial. Well let's just send lover boy a photo." He sent the picture.

_Present Time_

Natsu's phone rang. Glancing at the screen he saw it was a call from Max. "What's going on?" He asked quickly putting the phone on loud speaker so Gray could hear.  
"We found Gramps and Romeo knocked out. We just managed to rouse them."  
"Must have done it when they grabbed Wendy." Gray said.  
"Are they okay?" Natsu asked.  
"Pretty much. Both have a headache though."  
"What about the girls? Is there anything that could lead to them?" Natsu asked.  
"None. Sorry man."

Natsu gripped the phone a bit tighter and cursed under breath. "Alright, we'll be there in a couple minutes." He hung up and threw his phone against the dash. Gray looked at him.  
"We'll get them back." He said.  
"I keep imagining that creep hurting Lucy. It makes me sick to my stomach. Its worst that when I ride in car without taking ginger tables."  
"We'll figure something out and get them back."  
"Yeah and kill that bastard." Natsu said folding his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. As soon as they pulled up to Fairy Tail they were out of their vehicles. Gray didn't even bother to turn off his engine.

Inside Gramps and Romeo were sitting on the couch with ice packs on their heads.  
"I tell those punks get away with my girls." Makarov said.  
"Gramps it's not your fault. You didn't know and they ambushed you." Laxus said.  
"You can be as sure as hell that we'll get them back." Gajeel said.  
"But we don't know where Sage took them." Max said.  
"We only have that picture." Alzack said.  
"That's it!" Jellal said. "We're idiots, the phones. The picture was sent from Lucy's cell. They have the girls' phones. We can track them with those."  
"Jellal you're a geniuses!" Natsu said slapping the boy on the back.  
"Only none of us know how to do that." Droy said.  
"But we know someone who does." Gray said already on the phone. "Habiki, we need a huge a favour. Can you track someone's phone?" A pause, "Great, we need you track the girls cells." Another pause, "The girls from Fairy Tail, it's a long story. Please just do it now. I'll explain later." Gray paused for a moment then looked at everyone.  
"He's searching now," he told the others. It was agonising as the time passed waiting for Habiki to work.

Thankfully he could work quickly and it was only five minutes before Gray was saying he had a location.  
"He can narrow down to a five block area. He says it's moving."  
"Let's go, stay on the line with Habiki and he'll tell us where to go." Gajeel said already out the door.  
"Wait!" Warren ran upstairs and came back down seconds later. In his hands were the walkie talkies they used at the haunted house. "It will be easier to talk to other from different cars with these."  
"What about us?" Jet said pointing to himself and Max. "We can't hold that and ride our bikes."  
"Ride with someone in a car. We'll need to think of a plan on the fly and we need everyone know it at the same time." Jellal said. The two nodded.

"Gramps, we'll be back with the girls." Laxus said.  
"I'm coming too." Romeo said.  
"You're hurt. It will be best if you stay here." Max said.  
"No, I'm part of Fairy Tail too. I want to help and don't tell me I'm too little." Romeo said. The others shared a look.  
"Having someone who can get into tight places might be useful," Natsu said, "We have no idea where they're taking the girls."  
"Alright, we can't have any more delays." Laxus said.

They headed out the door.  
"They're heading north along the coast." Gray yelled as they were getting in the cars. Romeo jumped in the truck with Gray and Natsu. They raced out onto the road leaving a dust trail in their wake. Gray had placed Habiki on loud speaker and anything he said Natsu relayed with the walkie talkie to the others.

"Can I ask again, why am I tracking the girls' cells for you? Did you get in a fight with them or something?" Habiki asked over the phone.  
"Remember that guy Sage?" Gray asked.  
"The rich spoilt brat whose internet I hacked for you guys? Yeah. What about him?"  
"He kidnapped the girls." Natsu said.  
"What?!"  
"Yeah,"  
"I can't believe. Ichiya isn't going to be happy here that. We have a soft spot for the Fairy Tail girls. Is there anything we can do?"  
"You're already helping, just keep tracking them for us." Natsu said.  
"Right,"

"If I had been stronger, I could have stopped them." Romeo said punching Natsu's seat in front of him.  
"It's not your fault. You were outnumbered and they are much older than you." Natsu told him. "We'll get the girls back and you'll get your chance to pay them back."  
"Yeah we will." Romeo said with a determined look in his eye. Natsu nodded at faced forward again.  
"It looks like they stopped." Habiki's voice said. He gave them the area the cell's signal was coming from and Natsu told the others.  
"I know that area, there is an old apartment complex in that area. It's abandoned now." Laxus said.  
"That has to be where they have them." Elfman said.  
"Laxus how far are we?" Gajeel asked.  
"They had a big head start; we're still almost an hour away." He said bitterly.  
"An hour calculating for normal time," Natsu said fiercely, "Come, it's the dead of night and there is almost no traffic along the road here. I've seen you guys lust over your cars like they are your children. They aren't just for show so let's see what these hunks of metal can do!"

"You heard the man, don't hold anything back." Gajeel said shifting gears. His jeep leapt forward. In all the other cars they were shifting gears and pedals were hitting the floor.  
"Hold on Lucy," Natsu said to himself, "I'm coming for you."

Lucy woke up when she was tossed onto a hard surface. Her eyes flickered open and she took in her surroundings. She could barely see in the half light but she could just make out the dark shapes of her friends. She tried to sit up but was still too fuzzy. She heard a few more thuds as more of them were tossed in. Someone hit her and she heard a mumbled cry.  
"Wendy?" Lucy asked quietly  
"Lu-Lucy? I'm scared."  
How did they get Wendy? Lucy wondered. She could fell her shivering.  
"Shh, it's alright. I'm right here." Lucy said in a soft voice. She managed to move closer to the girl. "It's going to be okay."

Lucy heard one final thud somewhere behind her. She heard voices outside.  
"Alright, let's set up for the boys then I'll text them out location." It was Sage's voice. Footsteps moved away from them.

"Hello?" A voice asked from the darkness. Lucy knew it was Erza. After a moment she called again a little louder.  
"Erza?" Levy asked somewhere from Lucy's left.  
"I don't think they have anyone watching us." She said. To confirm this they all grew quite listening for any sounds in the room.  
"They must think we're still knocked out." Mira said.  
"That will be their mistake. Is everyone awake?" Erza asked and a few voices answered at once. It took a few minutes to sort out but eventually they figured out Lucy, Levy, Wendy, Mira, Erza and Bisca were awake. They others were still feeling the effects of the chloroform.

"We need to get ourselves untied somehow. Then we wake the others." Erza said.  
"Let's try and get back to back. Maybe we can unite the ropes at our hands." Levy said.  
"Good idea."

It required a lot of grunting, rolling and a few accidental kicks but they managed to get back to back but after several frustrating minutes during which Cana woke up they were no closer to getting free.  
"It's impossible to do this without seeing what we're doing." Bisca said.  
"Try and loop your hands under your legs to get them in front." Erza said.

Wendy was the first one who managed to do it.  
"Wendy see if you can get my binds loose." Said Lucy who was closest to her. She could fell Wendy pulling at the ropes but they won't getting any looser.  
"I'm sorry," Said Wendy.  
"No it's alright. Keep trying." Lucy said gently.  
"Guys this looks like an abandoned building." Cana said. They room they were in was empty and dusty. If there had been more light they would have seen the paint flaking off the walls and the cracked concert underneath.

"What about it?" Levy asked.  
"Well, from what I know abandoned builds are a favored place among teenagers to hang out and do things their parents don't approve off. Including but not limited to drugs, making," There was a pause. They all heard the sound of glass hitting the ground, "And drinking." Cana said triumphantly. She had being moving around looking for a beer bottle and had found just that in the corner of the room. She kicked over to Wendy.

"Brilliant. If we can break the glass we can use it cut through the ropes." Mira said. Wendy picked up the bottle and banged in against the ground. There was thump, but the bottle didn't break.  
"Try again." Erza said encouragingly. Wendy lifted the bottle and hit again, this time it smashed. She picked up one of the large pieces and started on Lucy's ropes, being cautious to only cut the ropes. Half way through Wendy let out a strangled cry.  
"Are you okay?" They all asked at once.  
"Y-yeah." She said in a shaky voice. She continued cutting Lucy's ropes. The second her hands were free Lucy turned around and took Wendy's hands in her own. She could just make out the gash on her left hand, running from the third finger across to the thumb.  
"You cut yourself," Lucy said her voice filled with concern.  
"I'll be fine." Wendy said. Lucy and everyone else know there was a very high chance of the cut being infected from the glass but no one voiced it. They knew there wasn't anything they do right now and the faster the got out of here the faster they could treat the cut. Lucy took the glass from her and cut the ropes away from Wendy's hands and feet. She then cut the ropes at her own feet before moving quickly around the room freeing everybody else.

Mira ripped part of her shirt and made a bandage for Wendy. Erza, Levy, Bisca and Cana worked on waking up the others while Lucy cut away the ropes. Once everyone was awake they gathered in a small group in the center of the room.  
"What's the plan?" Evergreen asked.  
"I heard Sage say something about a trap for the boys and sending a text to lure them here." Levy said. Mira and Lucy nodded agreeing with her.  
"We don't know where we are, or how far from Fairy Tail we are. We could be in the middle of no where. I haven't heard any cars, so even if we get out with Sage knowing it we may not find help right way." Erza said. She glanced at Wendy. The makeshift bandage was already soaked through.

"Then what should we do?" Lisanna asked.  
"We know they want to get us _all_ back. I don't think they'll try anything until the guys get here, so if we can hold out until then or at least until they send the text then," Erza paused and looked at everyone.  
"Then we can either make a run for it or fight our way out."  
"I know the first way is preferable, but I'm much rather the second option." Cana said with a grin. Several of the girls agreed silently.  
"But what if they come and check on us." Wendy asked.  
"We could tie the rope loosely around our feet and hide our hands behind our back." Lucy suggested. They nodded at the idea. Half of them gathered the rope while the other half looked for anything they could use as weapons, if they needed them.

Sage was going to find one way or another what happened to those who messes with Fairy Tail. This time the gloves where off.

* * *

While writing this I found myself wondering who I would want to face the least in a fight; the girls or the boys?  
I decided I would much rather face the boys. The girls in Fairy Tail can be scary in battle, especially Erza and Mira.

And talking about battles the next chapter will be a big one.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	20. Chapter 20

Time for Fairy Tails REVENGE!

* * *

"Is it me, or do you hear noises coming from upstairs?" One of the boys asked. Sage took a swing from a beer bottle and glanced at the ceiling.  
"Let's go check." He said to Harris grabbing a flashlight. They climbed the steps and switched on the light. Its beam fell on the floor bringing a dim glow to the hallway.  
"Sage, I heard you made a call to…" Harris asked.  
"Yeah, I wanted to make sure Fairy Tail hurts."  
"Don't you think that is a little drastic? We already outnumber the guys almost two to one. Some of the guys might put up a fight but we can handle it."  
"I'm not leaving anything to chance. I just talked to them and they'll be here in a couple minutes." He took another swing of beer.  
"I think you should take it easy on the boos, that like you're seventh bottle in the last hour…did you hear that? It sounds like talking."  
Sage held the light a bit higher.

A few rooms down the girls saw the light under the door crack and quieted down. They grouped together and made sure it looked like they were still bound.

The door swung open and the light trained on them making them squint.  
"So you're up," Sage said in boarded drawl. "Just as well, I want you see what we have in store for your boyfriends."  
"You'll never be able to stop them. They'll hunt you down to the ends of earth." Levy said.  
"Sure, they don't even know where you are. And even when I do let them know where you are they'll only be walking into my trap."  
"Like they won't be expecting a trap. They'll be prepared for anything you can throw at them." Erza said.  
"Anything you say? Tell me, will they be prepared for a hundred 1.4G grade warheads pointing at them?"

Lucy started laughing. "Is that your attempt at scaring us? You think by using technical terms you can fool us. Natsu is a pyromaniac, he's forgotten more about fire that you will ever know. And because of his obsession I know that a 1.4G warhead is an over the counter firework. What's wrong? Couldn't any of daddy's friends get you the big ones or did they think you were still too small to using such big rockets?"

"Like he would know anything about using a big rocket." Cana said making the girls laugh.  
"You think it's funny. I can't wait you how much you laugh when we sent those rockets right at Natsu." Sage grabbed Lucy lifting her to her feet.  
"You really think you can hurt them?" Lucy asked. "By taking us you made a fatal mistake, well two actual."  
"Oh yeah? What might that be?"  
"One, never underestimate the Fairy Tail boys," Before Lucy could continue Mitch ran in the room panting.

"We-we saw cars coming. We think it's them…Fairy Tail."  
"That's impossible!" Sage yelled. "How did they…We're not ready yet!"  
"Two," Lucy continued making Sage face her. Her fist smashed into Sage's jaw and he stumbled backward. "Never ever underestimate the Fairy Tail girls." She said shaking her fist. "That's for kidnapping us you good for nothing son of a bitch."

"Nice right hook," Erza said. She and the other girls got to their feet.  
"Thanks," Lucy said with a grin.  
"How did you get free?"  
"Didn't she just say you shouldn't underestimate us?" Levy said.  
"Now are you going to be a nice boy and let us go or are we going have to teach you some manners?" Cana asked.  
"You think we're afraid of girls?" Harris asked cracking his knuckles.  
"Any random set of girl, probably not." Mira said.  
"But this particular group, you should be afraid. Very afraid." Erza said lifting an iron pipe she had found.  
"I bet you can't even swing that thing hard enough to make me flinch." Harris said. Erza ran at him and swung the pipe downwards hitting him on the knee.

Harris buckled and fell to the ground gripping his knee and yelled in pain.  
"You're right. You didn't flinch, just started crying like a baby." Erza said. Sage and Mitch ran from the room seeing this.  
"How did I ever date such a wimp?" Lucy asked.  
"You're asking us? We the ones who told you he was no good." Levy said grinning.  
"Let's get out of this dump." Erza said leading the girls from the room.

"They escaped," Sage running downstairs, "Someone throw me a bat!" he said.  
"How'd they escape?"  
"We don't know. Just grab a bat or something. They'll be here any moment." Mitch said.  
"Like we'll need bats to take a couple weak girls." One of the boys making the others laugh.

"That was the wrong thing to say." Erza said from the top of the stairs.

Laxus took a sharp left bouncing in a huge pothole. "There it is. Right in front of us." He said into the walkie talkie. In the cars behind him all the boys heard this and their adrenalin doubled. They all stamped on their pedals even though they were already to the floor, trying to make their cars go faster. As they drove into an empty car lot they saw two vans parked near the entrance.  
"That's must be how they took the girls." Natsu said.  
"At least that's a sign we're in the right place." Gray said.  
"Everyone remember the plan. We're going to look for a back entrance and surprise them." Jellal said.

This plan didn't last long because as soon as they got out their cars they heard the sounds of a fight.  
"What the hell is that?" Gajeel asked. Then they heard a girl scream and they stampeded to the nearest doors. They kicked the doors opened expecting the worst. What they saw made them stop cold. Sage's goons were getting their asses handed to them by the girls.  
"Damn, and we were worried about them." Max said.  
"Shouldn't we help them?" Droy asked.

The boys flinched together as they watched Mira kick a boy in the jaw. He fell to the floor out cold.  
"I don't think they need our help." Gray said. They winced when Erza swung her pipe at a boy.  
"Shit, I hope he wasn't planning on reproducing." Laxus said.  
"Is me or do they all look seriously hot right now?" Gajeel asked.  
"Hey, you have your own girl." Natsu said.  
"I know. I was just making a general observation. You all had to admit they look sexy." A after a second the others answered together.  
"Oh yeah."

Juvia was the first one to notice the boys standing in the doorway.  
"GRAY!" She turned away from the boy she had been about to punch and full out sprinted to him, knocking him laughing. "You're here!" She said squeezing him like her life depended on it. For once he didn't complain about not being able to breathe and hugged her back just as tight.

Her cry had caused everyone's heads to turn to the door. The girls forgot their anger at Sage and his lackeys and in a happy wave ran towards the boys. The boys moved forward with just as much gusto.

Levy took a flying leap at Gajeel flinging her arms around his neck.  
"You are never leaving my sight again." He said holding her against him. She laughed.  
"You can't watch me every second of the day." She said.  
"Just you try and stop me." He said and before she could argue he kissed her.

"How'd you find us?" Erza asked as she hugged Jellal.  
"It's a long story, but it involved breaking more than a few traffic laws."  
"Breaking rules? That sounds like Fairy Tail. And it definitely sound like you."  
"You aren't going to hold it over my head, are you?"  
"Given the circumstances I _think_ I could I let it slide."  
"Oh you think?" Jellal asked in sarcastic tone.  
"Yeah, I think," She wove her fingers in his hair. "Come here." She pulled into a kiss.

Natsu lifted Lucy off her feet spinning her around. She kissed him for all it was worth.  
"Are you okay?" He asked when they broke apart.  
"Yeah."  
"They didn't hurt you or anything?"  
"No, I'm fine."  
"Thank god," He hugged her tightly enveloping her in his embrace. "I was so worried." He said in a low voice. She could feel him shaking.  
"It's okay."She said hugging him tighter. "We're together now so it's okay."  
"Yeah, it is." He said. He kissed her forehead. "Leave the rest to us."

He turned to Sage and his goons. "Hey! I'm going to give you one chance to beg for mercy."  
"And you better make it good, cause we're not feeling very merciful at the moment." Gajeel said cracking his knuckles. He and the other boys stepped forward. Sage glared at them.  
"If I were you I would leave while you can." He said.  
"Really? You're trying to threaten us, after a bunch of girls beat you." Gray said.  
"I'm serious, if you don't leave soon you'll regret it."

"Alright, let's make sure this punk never tries something against us again." Laxus said rolling his shoulder. After already taking a beating from the girls Sage's goons didn't stand a chance. Most of them were reduced to whimpering heaps in a matter of seconds. But it didn't stop the boys from giving it their all.

Laxus gabbed two boys as they tried to escape.  
"You aren't leaving the party are you?" He bashed their heads together and they fell to their knees. "I didn't think so." Gajeel clothes lined another one as he made a break for the door. He elbowed another on the nose, giving him a bloody nose.  
Gray punched two boy out clean and kicked another in his gut leaving him winded.  
Jellal uppered one boy so hard he had lifted him off his feet.  
Jet and Droy were tab teaming the boys. Jet would run, then slid baseball style to knock them off their feet. Droy would then used a well timed punch as they were falling.  
Max, Warren, Nab and Vijeeter had made a box around a few of the boys, forcing them to fight with limited space.

Natsu in particular was tearing through the crowd. He knocked out six guys in a row and charged after Sage as he tried to retreat into another room.

He grabbed him by the collar and tossed him into the wall. Sage slid down the floor and covered his face with his hands.  
"Alright, I give. Just don't hurt me." He said in a quivering voice. Natsu picked him up by his shirt.  
"Why should I have any sympathy for you?" Natsu asked.  
"Please, I didn't mean for it to get this far…" He stopped talking suddenly and turned his head towards the window. Natsu did as well. He could hear the sounds of vehicles approaching quickly. Sage kneed him his crotch.  
"You little whelp." Natsu let Sage go and he ran from the room. Natsu followed after him as soon as the pain subsided.

Sage wove through the fights yelling to his friends to get outside. Those who could follow him ran for the doors.  
"After them! Don't let them escape!" Gajeel yelled. Fairy Tail ran outside but came to grinning halt when they saw the four buses in front of them, dozens of boys pouring out of it.  
"I told you should run while you could." Sage said. "I called in a few of my friends from other schools and they agreed to come help us with a little incentive."

"So you paid these guys to come beat us up." Lucy said.  
"Paid sounds so vulgar."  
"You couldn't even face us by yourself. You just have to throw you're daddy's money around to get anything." Lucy yelled at him.  
"This is your last chance Lucy. If you come back home with me I'll send these guys home and you're friends can go home in one piece."

Lucy was going to tell him to go to hell but then she looked at the pure numbers Sage had on his side. They must have outnumbered them six to one and they won't small either. Her friends had gotten hurt enough because of her. She took a step forward but Natsu blocked her way with his hand.  
"Don't you even think about it." He said.  
"I'm not going to let you all get hurt for me again." She said. Erza placed her hand on her shoulder.  
"Who said anything about us getting hurt?" She said.  
"Come on Lucy, you should give us better credit than that." Gray said.  
"These guys aren't going to know what hit them." Gajeel said.  
"You guys…" Lucy started.  
"Don't worry Lucy, they won't win. Even if I have to take everyone of them out myself I will." Natsu said.  
"Natsu…" Lucy felt tears well up.  
"Come Sage, show us what you have!" Natsu yelled walking forward.

"It's your funeral. Gut them." Sage said. The boys around him rushed forward.

* * *

Nope, it's not over yet.

I don't why I only thought about making Sage drunk in this chapter because I kept wondering if it was out of character for him to try something this risky. But then I came up with the idea of making him drunk and resolved that problem.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	21. Chapter 21

The finial battle ends with this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

At first it looked like Fairy Tail had the upper hand. The first few boys they knocked out quickly, but then the sheer numbers began pressing in on them. Sage's goons separated them from each other isolating them in small groups.

Max, Romeo and Laki were surrounded on all sides. Max was trying to break through in the line but it seemed every time he made in an opening another boy was there to fill in. Two boys gripped his arms and a third punched him until his nose was bleeding. They knocked off his feet. Laki dropped to his side and Romeo stood in front of the two. The teens laughed at him.

"Are you going to fight kid?" One asked.  
"Scared?" Romeo said in his bravest voice. They laughed even louder.  
"Look kid, don't embarrass yourself –" He was cut off when Romeo's fist sung into his gut. Romeo punched again but this time it was stopped. The boy punched him across the jaw knocking him onto the dirt.  
"You're just a bunch of cowards!" Laki yelled at them, "It's seven of you against one guy and girl and kid! You should be ashamed –"

Max cut her off by placing his hand on her shoulder.  
"Don't waste your breath on them." He said getting to his feet. He spat blood out of his mouth and looked right at the boys, "You're wasting your time trying to reason with them."  
"Max, you shouldn't move." Laki said.  
"I'm a Fairy Tail member so I'll protect my friends until my last breath."

Romeo got to his feet shakily. "You won't be alone." He said.  
"No," Laki took off her glassed and folded her fists, "You won't."  
"Guys –"  
"We're in Fairy Tail too, we can't just let you fight alone." Romeo said. Laki nodded.  
"Please, stop. I think I'm going to die from the sappiness." One of the boys said.  
"Then come on, unless you're too scared." Max said grinning. The boys rushed them.

Gray was being overwhelmed by four teens that could pass as buildings.  
"Let him go!" Juvia yelled trying to kick them. One hit her aside like he was hitting away a fly. She hit the ground.  
"NO! Juvia," Gray broke out of their grip, "You are going to regret that."  
He turned back to them his eyes flashing red.  
"Big talk coming from a little man." One laughed.  
"You think you're tough because you're all buff? Don't you know that old saying, the bigger they are," Gray dropped and sweeping kicked the one who had hit Juvia knocking him off his feet, "The harder they fall."  
He uppercutted another and tackled the third. The fourth punched him in the stomach making him double over. He then hammer fisted over the head. He hit the ground dazzed.  
"Gray!" Juvia ran the boy but he stopped her and slammed her into the wall, holding her off the ground.  
"Let her go." Gray said trying to get up. The one he had tackled stepped on him, holding him to the ground.  
"Who's going to make us?"

Nab hit the ground blood running from the corner of his mouth. Vijeeter kicked two more boys but it wasn't enough to take them out. Warren was tackled to the ground by two boys. Jet and Droy were being used as punching bags.  
"If you say you give up we'll stop." One said.  
"We'll never give up." Jet said.  
"You can't make us." Droy said.  
"You're already on your last legs." The boys holding Jet and Droy let them go and they fell to their knees. "See, just make it easy on yourselves."  
"That's not who we are." Vijeeter said helping Jet and Droy to their feet. Nab got up wiping the blood of his face.  
"You hurt our family."  
"And we can't forgive you for that." Warren said.  
"If it takes everything we have we'll stop you." Jet said.  
"Sorry to break it to you, but you just don't have enough in you to beat us."

Laxus, Bixlow and Fried were struggling against the numbers. The boys fighting them were using baseball bats as weapons. All they could do was block. Bixlow tired to charge through to make an opening but ended up being clobbered in the back of the head.  
"At least fight fairly!" Laxus yelled. All his punches were hitting air. The boys were careful to get close enough to hit them with the bats but stayed out of punching and kicking range. Laxus took a blow to the gut that left him winded, then another to the back of his knees making him buckle.  
"Fair isn't any fun." One of the boys scoffed.  
"Fair isn't fun when you are a bunch of cowards." Fried said. He helped Bixlow to his feet. "You can use all the dirty tactics you want but you won't prevail."  
A boy hit him across the jaw. "You talk too much." Another one swung at him but the swing was stopped by Laxus. He had caught the bat in mid swing. He ripped it from the boys hands and broke against his knee.  
"That was stupid, you could have used that as weapon."  
"I don't lower myself to face anyone. I won't use the cowardly methods you do." He said.  
"Alright bit shot, come on. Show us what you got."

"You were saying something about being man? Won't you?" A boy asked as he kicked a fallen Elfman. "Huh? Where's that talk right now?" He kicked him again.  
"Stop it!" Evergreen yelled trying to break free of the boy holding her from behind, "Stop hurting him! Can't you see he's had enough?" Tears were running down her face.  
"Ever…" Elfman groaned out, "It's alright. I said I would beat these guys and a man always keeps his word." He managed to grin at her.  
"There you go again, talking about being a man." He kicked him. "I don't see a man. I see pathetic little teen trying too hard to be something he's not." He kicked him again, but this time Elfman lifted his hand to block the blow.  
"I know who I am. I'm part of Fairy Tail." He said sweeping the boy off his feet. He got to his feet but stumbled forward losing his balance. Evergreen bite the boy holding her. He let go with a yelp. She braced Elfman before he fell.  
"It's alright. I got you." She said softly. He smiled at her before falling to his knees.

Mira help out her hands blocking Lisanna and Wendy. The three had being backing into a corner.  
"You aren't going to touch them." She said. The boys laughed at her.  
"Who's going to stop us? You?"  
Mira didn't answer. The boy hit her across the jaw and she was knocked to the side.  
"Mira!"  
"Lisanna, Wendy, both of you get out of here. I'll buy you some time." Mira said. This made the boys laugh again. Mira turned sharply being her foot around. The heel of her shoe cut into the cheek of one of the boys.  
"Go now!" Using her momentum she struck another in the temple with the back of her hand. One tackled her, but she kneed him in the gut. Two more grabbed her hands and pinned her to the ground. She tried to break free but together they were too strong. Then one spontaneously let go when a shoe hit him in the eye. Lisanna had thrown her shoe and was getting the other one to throw. The one who she had nailed in the eye was bended over. Wendy jumped over him like a huddle and kicked the other one holding Mira.  
"I told you to run." Mira said.  
"You really didn't think that we would leave you?" Wendy said helping Mira to her feet.  
"Yeah sis, you know us better than that." Lisanna said.  
"You should have run while you had the chance. You're not going to get another chance." One of the boys said.

Cana, Bisca and Alzack were trapped between a rock and a hard place, literally. At their backs was a slab of concert that could have once been part of a balcony, but it had long broken away from the building. To their fronts were eight of Sage's goons.  
"I wish we had those sling shots now." Bisca said.  
"Sling shots? That's you're weapon of choice."  
"Don't underestimate Fairy Tail, we can turn anything into a weapon." Cana said. One of the boys grinned at her.  
"Anything? You shouldn't talk like that when you're backed into a corner."  
"Who said anything about being backing into a corner?" Cana said.  
"You have nowhere to run. Its game over."  
"The fun is only just starting, and I do have somewhere to run," She ran right at him elbowing him in the face. "I can run forward." The three more boys jumped at her but Bisca and Alzack got in their way. The three of them did hold their own for a while, but there were just too may boys to handle at the same. They were thrown back into the concert slab.  
"Come on Fairy Tail, we're waiting for you."  
The three of them couldn't move because it was too painful. Cana gritted her teeth as she tried to stand. The boys pushed her back down.

Erza and Jellal were back to back, surrounded on all sides by Sage's goons.  
"What is it with Fairy Tail finding itself in trouble?" Jellal asked over his shoulder. He blocked a kick and gripped the guy's foot, tossing him into two more about to attack.  
"Hey, you get in more trouble than we do." Erza shot back. She ducked under a right hook and uppercuttered the boy. She twisted around and backed kicked another that was about to attack Jellal.  
"Thanks and you get in way more trouble that I do." He indicated to her to duck, when she ducked he punched over her head his fist sending a boy to the ground.  
"Yeah right, you are the master of trouble." She judo flipped a boy over her shoulder. As someone was about to attack her she grabbed his jacket and pulled it over his head then elbowed him in the face.  
"Erza look out!" Jellal pushed her out of the way just as three boys tried to tackle her. They took him down instead.  
"Jellal!" Before she could help him two boys grabbed her hands. She pulled one towards her and headbutted him. She stepped on the others one's foot. Four more boys tackled her to the ground.  
"Isn't there an end to them?" She struggled under them. A few feet away Jellal was struggling as well.

Natsu, Lucy, Levy and Gajeel had forced back against a wall by Sage and some of his biggest goons. Natsu and Gajeel were standing in front of Lucy and Levy.  
"See what you caused Lucy? You're friends are getting hurt because of you. Isn't that what you wanted to prevent?"  
"Shut up!" Natsu ran at Sage but one his goons got in the way, elbowing him across the jaw. Natsu stumbled back. The boy punched him in the face several times, and then kicked him in the neck. Natsu hit the ground gasping for breath.  
"Salamander, get up." Gajeel said. He tried to help him but the other boys stuck him down before he could get to him. They pinned him to the ground.  
"Stop it Sage!" Lucy cried. "What you do gain by this?"  
"What I gain? I get to see the people I hate suffer." He said.  
"You're a monster." Levy said. She ran him, but again Sage's goons stopped her. The boy lifted her off the ground by her neck. Levy tried kicking and punching but it was like hitting a wall.  
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Gajeel torn the boys off him and charged at the one holding Levy. Another clothes lined him. He fell on his back and the boy kicked him in the face.  
"N-no, G-g-je-el." Levy said though strangled breaths.

Gajeel and Natsu struggled to their feet. They were both panting heavily. Four boys bearded down on them knocking them back down. Lucy placed herself in front the two but the boys hit her aside. Natsu let out a strangled cry and charged at them. They punched him in the gut before he could attack. He fell to his knees.  
"How pitiful?" Sage said. Natsu looked over at Lucy. She was getting back on her feet using the wall as a brace.  
"You can't take much more. Just give up." Sage said.  
"We won't. In Fairy Tail we protect each other." Lucy said. Sage laughed.  
"Really, but they are either beaten or restrained. Who's going to protect you from this?" Sage charged his, fist raised. She flinched but the pain never came. Natsu had intercepted the punch. Sage tried to break Natsu's grip on his hand but couldn't.

"I'll protect her. I'll always protect her!" Natsu's punch sent him flying. The one of the boys ran at Natsu. Gajeel jumped to his feet and used the moment to attack the one holding Levy. He punched him in the gut making him drop her. He caught her before she hit the ground. The boy raised his fist and sent it falling towards Gajeel and Levy. Gajeel covered Levy with his body.  
Natsu knew he didn't have enough time to block or dodge the boy's attack and braced himself for the impact. Someone kicked away the boy just before he hit Natsu and at the same moment another person stopped the fist that had been about to fall on Gajeel.

"Natsu, I haven't seen you this beat up in a while." The first person grinned at Natsu.  
"Gajeel, since when do you allow yourself to be pushed this far back." The second one said in a clam voice.

"Sting?"  
"Rouge?"

"In the flesh." They said together.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Gajeel asked.  
"Blue Pegasus called us, said you might be in some kind of trouble." Sting said. At that very moment all around reinforcements were entering the battle.

The boy holding Gray down was knocked off and thrown into the one holding Juvia.  
"Gray, I can't believe you let Juvia be handled like that." Lyon extending his hand to help the boy up.  
"Hey, we were outnumbered!" Gray said defensively. Juvia tackled hugged Gray.  
"Gray, are you hurt?"  
"I should be asking you that." Gray said.  
"We can discuss how everyone is once we finish these guys." Lyon said. Gray nodded and raised his first. He and Lyon charged together.

"How dear you touch the beauties of Fairy Tail!" Ichiya yelled appearing in front of the boys holding down Erza. He rasied his hands.  
"Hold your breath!" Erza told Jellal. They both stopped breathing just as Ichiya began spraying. The boys on top of them started coughing and let them go instantly. Ichiya chased after them with his perfume. Kagura kicked another knocking him out cold.  
"Erza, this isn't like you," She held her hand for the girl. Erza took and got to her feet.  
"The odds were against us," Erza said.  
"_Were_ being the operative word," Jellal said getting to his feet.

Hibiki jumped over the boys in front of Cana, Bisca and Alzack.  
"I can't allow sure injustice to be fall girls who I hold near to my heart." He said.  
"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about." Alzack said.  
"Alzack, be jealous later, kick ass now." Cana said. The four of them attack the boys in front of them.

Eve and Ren appeared front of Mira, Wendy and Lisanna.  
"We hate boys don't know how to love girls." Ren said.  
"You will regret ever laying a hand on the Fairy Tail beauties."

As Fairy Tail watched more of their friends from the other houses appeared to help fight. Kagura and Erza had both taken up a baseball bats and were knocking down anyone who got in their way. Romeo, Wendy and Sherry were using their height to their advantage running through the feet of others, tripping them. Sabertooth and Cerberus were yelling with joy as they knocked out goon after goon.

Natsu laughed as he watched. "I never thought I would hear myself say this but I'm happy to see you Sting."  
"As much as I'll hate to admit it Salamander's right. We owe you." Gajeel said.  
"You can pay us back by fighting next to us." Sting said.  
"You got yourself a deal." Natsu said punching his hand in his palm. "Let's teach these guys our power."  
The four charged at the goons in front of them.

"No," Sage yelled, "NO! Stop them you idiots! Kill them!"  
"It's over Sage." Lucy said. He looked at her.  
"No, it's not." He grabbed her by the forearm. "Not until I say it is." He pulled her behind him roughly taking her inside.  
"Lucy!" Levy yelled and ran after him. Natsu and Gajeel heard her cry and turned around. The second they figured out what was happening the two were running after Sage.  
"Stop her and anyone else." Sage yelled over his shoulder. Three of his goons blocked the doorway. Levy tired to break through but the boys knocked her back. Gajeel braced her before she fell. Natsu jumped kicked one knocking him to the ground. The other two were about to tackle him but Gray and Erza ran into them.

"Natsu, we'll handle these guys." Erza said.  
"Go get Lucy." Gray said. Natsu nodded at them and took off after Sage. He couldn't see him but he could hear the footsteps in the hallway as well as Lucy's strangled cried.

Sage pulled Lucy up to the fourth floor and threw her to the ground.  
"You did this to me!" He yelled at her.  
"You did this to yourself." Lucy said getting to her knees. Sage struck her across the face. He turned in a circle searching the room. There were several empty beer bottles lying on the ground. He grabbed one and swung it at Lucy. The sound of glass breaking filled the empty room.

Natsu had gotten there just in time to intercept the bottle. He had taken the hit on his forearm, leaving shards of glass in his arm. He swung his other hand. It connected with Sage's jaw and he fell to his feet. Sage kicked out hitting Natsu in the shin. Natsu fell to one knee and Sage kicked again. Natsu rolled out of the way. Sage jumped to his feet and charged at Natsu. He punched towards his face but Natsu ducked and tackled Sage to the ground. He pinned him with his feet and raised his hands. With a cry he swung downwards Sage's head with enough force to smash a concert block.

Natsu panted as he looked at what he had done. The ground next to Sage's head was cracked. Sage looked at the spot then back at Natsu.  
"Why…why didn't you…"  
"Finish it? Because you're not worth it. But I promise you, the next time you try to hurt one of my friends I won't miss." Natsu got to his feet and limped over to Lucy. She stood and placed his arm around her shoulders. She helped him walk towards the exit. Sage picked up the broken bottle piece and ran at them from behind.

Natsu and Lucy turned around but Sage was already on top of them. An iron pipe entered the space between then and Sage, hitting the latter in the temple. Sage collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"I've been wanting to do that since the first time he cheated on you." Erza said.  
"Man, I wanted to do it." Gray complained.  
"Erza? Gray?" Lucy looked at them.  
"Well who else would you expect?" Gray asked.  
"You two okay?" Erza asked.  
"We are now." Natsu said. He flinched when he tried to raise his hand. "Or at least we will be." Lucy couldn't help but smile.  
"Let's go home." She said.

* * *

Okay, now I have to say the thing I really don't want to. The next chapter is probably going to be the last. I know, I know. I don't want it to end either but I can't keep writing this story forever (even thought I really, really want to). Even if I kept writing at this point I'll either be scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas or be using one that would be better suited for another story.

Besides, this fic is set in summer and summer can't last forever (even if Phineas and Ferb suggest otherwise).

Nardragon~ until the next page.


	22. Chapter 22

I want to thank everyone who read this story. It always blows me away how well my stories do and it won't be possible without you guys encouraging me along. So with a heavy, yet proud heart i give you the lat chapter.

* * *

Fairy Tail had returned home after thanking everyone who had come to help them. Now they were treating their injuries. The first kits were being passed around like hot potatoes.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!," Natsu snatched back his hand glaring at Erza. "That hurts!" He complained.  
"Off course it's going to hurt! You have glass in your arm!" She snapped grabbing his and held it against the counter. She held up a tweezers trying to take a shard of glass out of his forearm. He yelled again and pulled his hand back.

"Can't you do it gently?"  
"I'm trying to. If you would stop moving I would be able to get the glass out easier."  
"Natsu stop complaining and man up," Gajeel told him. Gajeel flinched as Levy pulled the bandages around his chest. "Shrimp, not so tight."  
"Sorry," She loosened the bandages.  
"Stop complaining and man up, Gajeel." Natsu said. Erza pulled out a shard making him flinch. He grabbed his hand. Erza sighed.  
"Owww!" he said.  
"Well what do you want me to do? Leave them in there. Or maybe someone else should do it."  
"No, you have the steadiest hands." He said.  
"Then stop complaining." Erza snapped and held his hand again.

"You're concentrating too much on the pain." Lucy said from across the room where she was helping Mira with Romeo.  
"Try thinking of something else. Something that will take your mind of the pain." Gray suggested.  
"Oh, you can think about how great all those fireworks we swiped from Sage will look when we sent them off." Cana suggested.  
"Alright," Natsu closed his eyes imagining the fireworks. Erza slowly took out another shard but Natsu pulled back again yelling.  
"Nothing else to do." Lucy got up and moved next to Natsu, sitting down. She kissed him making everyone else stare. A full 30 seconds went by without anybody moving. It wasn't until Lucy, still kissing Natsu, flicked her hand at Erza that they realised what she was doing.

"Oh, right." Erza said and began taking out the shards with her tweezers. This time Natsu didn't flinch or pull away. He didn't even seem aware that Erza was working on his hand. After a minute or two Erza said, "Done," and Lucy pulled back. Natsu blinked a few times.  
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Lucy asked.  
"What…was so bad?" He asked confused. Lucy shook her head and started to bandage his hand. Natsu looked shocked to see his hand now glass free.  
"When did…oh, I get it." It suddenly dawned on Natsu what happened. He looked at Lucy and smiled.  
"I ever told how brilliant you are?" He asked her. She smiled slightly.  
"Once or twice," She said lightly.

He kissed her so suddenly she dropped the roll of gauze.  
"You are brilliant," He whispered against her lips. Several people snickered at the two. Others wolf whistled. Mira gave a content sigh smiling brightly. Cana placed her hands over Wendy's and Romeo's eyes.  
"Get a room, will you." Gajeel said.  
Natsu broke the kiss and looked at him. "You're just jealous you're no brave enough to kiss Levy in front everyone." Natsu said.  
"I'm not jealous! And I can too kiss Levy in front of everyone!"  
"Then do it."

Gajeel grabbed Levy and pulled her on top of him. Before she could protest he was kissing her. This caused even more wolf whistling. After several minutes Gajeel released a very red Levy.  
"What did I tell you Salmander…uh, Natsu…where did he go?" Gajeel asked.  
"He and Lucy went upstairs about six minutes ago." Jellal said.  
"What's the point of proving him wrong if he isn't around to see it?" Gajeel huffed and folded his arms. He glanced at Levy, "What do say we turn for the night?" He asked. Levy's face could have been compared with a stop sign.  
"Do you have to be so forward?" She asked.  
"I'm tired and going to bed, are you coming or not."  
She blushed even deeper and muttered a yes. Gajeel took her up, holding her around the waist and carried her upstairs.

At that moment Juvia wondered if Gray would ask her to go upstairs. As soon as the thought had entered her head she fainted falling backwards off her stool. Gray gave a panicked cry and dropped next to her.  
"Juvia? Juvia, can you hear me?" He asked patting her face.  
"You should take her upstairs," Mira suggested, "and say there, with her." A few people rolled their eyes. Everyone knew what Mira's ulterior motives were.  
"Right," Gray lifted Juvia up taking her upstairs.

That night despite the house rule no one slept in their rooms (and even if they were in their room they were probably in there with someone they shouldn't have been…no, not like that you pervs). For that night they were all just too happy to be together to be bothered in the separate floors rule. Even Erza let it slide for the night, but that have had something to do with the fact Jellal spent the night.

The next night they had a party on the beach as a way as saying thanking everyone who had come to help them against Sage. Even though they were still in bandages they somehow managed to party with the best of them. Of course a fight broke out between Natsu, Gajeel, Sting and Rogue. Surprisingly Erza made they stop. While she could make everyone in Fairy Tail listen to her, they had never seen anyone else listen to her without a second thought (except maybe for Jellal). But when Sting and Rogue saw the dark look in the red head's eyes they were face down in the sand begging forgiveness.

Cana and Bacchus had another drinking competition. It really didn't have a winner but left both of them hiccupping and singing off key on the patio. Romeo was proudly showing his and Wendy's sand castle which they had finished that very day. It stood five feet high and eleven across. On the front they had craved the Fairy Tail symbol.

Around midnight Natsu set up the fireworks they had taken from Sage (the ones he had been planning to use on them). He spent several minutes fixing fuses and arranging rockets.  
"Natsu, you do know what you're doing?" Gray asked. "The last time you used fireworks you set a coconut tree on fire."  
"Relax. It will be great." Natsu pulled a box of matches out of his pocket.  
"At least he isn't setting them a light by throwing them in the bonfire." Laxus said. Natsu stuck a match, lit the fuse and ran back. He had arranged the fuses so they would light each other. Several seconds passed and nothing happen, then the first rocket shot up, then two more. They exploded creating a fiery red explosion in the sky followed by a blue and purple.

More rockets took off painting a rainbow across the night sky.  
"Okay, you knew what you were doing." Gray admitted.  
"And you doubted me." Natsu smirked at him.  
"It's so beautiful." Levy said her eyes wide.  
"You have to hand it to Sage, he didn't skimp for the cheap stuff." Erza said with a laugh.  
"He was hoping to use these to attack us." Jellal reminded her.  
"Who used fireworks as weapons anyway?"  
"Actually it's easy to turn a firework into a bomb," Natsu said, "I can show –"  
"NO!" Everyone yelled at once.  
"Alright, don't need to yell." He wrapped his hands around Lucy, "I was only going to set a tree on fire…or maybe Gray's and Gajeel's pants."He said the last part so only Lucy could hear.  
"You wouldn't really?" She asked.  
"The ocean is right there. They would be able to put it out before anything serious happnens." Natsu joked. Lucy shook her head.

"Natsu you can be crazy sometimes."  
"That's the way you talk about your boyfriend?"  
"Well, it is one of the things I like about you, so is it isn't all bad." She kissed him on the cheek.  
"Once you're around nothings bad."

_A few weeks later ~ the end of summer_

It was sober mood as everyone was packing their bags into their vehicles. Everyone was saying their goodbyes and promising to email, call and text each other thought out the year. Juvia had broken down about having to leave Gray. She didn't stop until Gray had promised to skype her everyday and drive up to see every other weekend. Even then it took a particularly long kiss to stop her from sniffling.

Mira had threatened Fried that if he didn't call at least three times a week she would break up with him. Erza and Jellal were saying goodbye next to Gray's truck as they were preparing to leave.  
"I'll come up a visit every now and again…if that's okay with you." He said.  
"I would like that." She said smiling. Jellal kissed her deeply before taking his leave.  
"See you soon."  
"Yeah."

"This summer just seemed to fly by." Gajeel said when he placed his bags into the back of the jeep.  
"The summer always seems to fly by." Levy said slipping her hand into his.  
"I know, but this year felt extra fast."  
"I know what you mean." Natsu said. "I'm going to miss this place."  
"It's not like we're leaving forever. We'll back next year." Lucy said. He looked at and smiled.  
"You know, every summer here is special to me but I think this was the best ever." He pulled her closer. "And you're right, this isn't good bye forever. Plus, I think I'm in for a very interesting year having a new girl friend and all."

Lucy rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile.  
"Don't forget we have a double date coming up." Levy teased.  
"Don't remind me." Natsu and Gajeel said together making Lucy and Levy laugh.  
"Guys, I hate to say it," Gray said leaning against the door. He didn't have to say it. Lucy and Levy hugged and Natsu and Gajeel even gave each other the pat on the back/ hug thing guys did.

Natsu, Lucy, Erza and Gray all climbed in the truck waving goodbye to those who were still here. Gray glanced at Natsu and Lucy.  
"Alright, no make out sessions. Frankly I would rather Natsu throwing up that the two of you exchanging sliva the whole way back." He said.  
"Don't worry we won't make out the whole way. That would give us some seriously chapped lips." Natsu said making Lucy and Erza burst out laughing. Gray frowed as he pulled out on to the road. Natsu glanced back at Fairy Tail. Lucy slipped her hand into his.

"We'll back before you know it." She said. He smiled and nodded. We wasn't as sad as he thought he would be and knew that had a lot to do with her. Maybe, just maybe the rest of the year would as great as the summer had been.

* * *

So we have come to the close. Again thank you for all your support. Every review, fav and follow.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


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